Glen Ellyn wants Montessori lawsuit dismissed

Glen Ellyn's attorneys have asked a DuPage County judge to throw out a lawsuit concerning a dispute over moving a Montessori school into a residential neighborhood.

Village attorneys say lawyers for unhappy neighbors did not follow a judge's Oct. 15 order to clarify language in the suit and remove the names of village officials.

The case was brought against the village in April by opponents of a plan to move the Diamante Montessori school two blocks from St. Mark's Church, 393 E. Main St., to a residential neighborhood at 625 Hillside Ave.

In the initial lawsuit, neighbors said the village violated its own ordinances by approving a special-use permit for the school and violated residents' due process rights. They also said the school's owners, Ron and Elizabeth Repking, violated a law prohibiting construction from encroaching on a neighbor's property.

In all, four charges were filed against the village. In October, DuPage Circuit Judge Thomas C. Dudgeon dismissed two of the charges for lack of evidence and asked that members of the village board and planning commission be removed from the lawsuit.

The suit was first filed April 24 after village officials granted the Repkings a special-use permit to allow a school at the location.

Neighbors have failed twice to have a court issue an injunction against the school's operations and it opened Sept. 8.

On Oct. 15, Dudgeon made his ruling seeking clarification of three out of five original counts.

In a motion filed Monday, village attorneys said the new complaint "fails to comply with this court's directives ... that each cause of action be separately stated." Instead, the motion claims, 113 allegations are made without any being connected specifically to a charge, choosing to "dump all of their factual allegations into one 'common' section."

These allegations include the due process complaint.

"He filed a complex and confusing complaint in violation of a judge's order and it should be dismissed, with prejudice," Village Attorney Stewart Diamond said of Steven Ruffalo, the attorney who represents the 14 plaintiffs in the case.

The motion concludes that "plaintiffs should be denied another bite at the apple in this case and this case should be dismissed."

Ruffalo could not be reached for comment Wednesday.