Sanctions possible in false attorney lawsuit
A judge will rule next month whether to dismiss a lawsuit filed by a man who was barred from practicing law in Kane County because he did not have a license.
Judge F. Keith Brown will rule Feb. 9 whether to throw out a suit filed by Carpentersville resident Robert Sperlazzo that accuses several Kane County judges of being biased, and seeks $4 million in damages from Aurora attorney and former Kane County Bar Association President Patrick Kinnally.
If Brown dismisses the suit, Kinnally plans to seek sanctions against Sperlazzo for what Kinnally says is an abuse of the court system.
“Every time someone takes a position that is averse of him, (Sperlazzo) turns around and uses them,” Kinnally said. “Somewhere, sometime, someone has to take a stand on this and I intend to do it.”
Sperlazzo, who has not returned repeated messages and did not show up for court Thursday, first got in hot water in early 2011 after the bar association filed a complaint against him, arguing he misrepresented himself as an attorney to two men at the Kane County Recorder’s Office.
According to the complaint, Sperlazzo was advising two men Dec. 1, 2010 about a “land patent process” on how to keep their property even if they were in foreclosure. The complaint stated that Sperlazzo took payment in cash and told the men to avoid the court system and not to talk to other attorneys because it would ruin the process.
A judge eventually slapped Sperlazzo with an injunction; he has not been charged with any criminal wrongdoing.
Sperlazzo turned around and sued several judges, attorneys and Kinnally. The lawsuit quoted the Magna Carta and accused some of peonage, sedition, and inland piracy.
Thursday, Judge Judith Brawka, who was randomly assigned Sperlazzo’s lawsuit, recused herself from it and transferred it to Brown. Kinnally had moved to dismiss the suit, but Brawka didn’t want to throw out a suit in which she was named a defendant.
She said a judge could ultimately dismiss a suit if Sperlazzo continues to sue judges that hear his cases.
“If this becomes a pattern as set out in the case law, it is then within the court’s ability, regardless of who gets assigned to it, to make that determination in the future,” Brawka said.