COVID-19 Eviction Lawyer Wall of Shame
EVICTIONS ARE STILL BEING FILED IN CHICAGO.
THEY AREN’T FILING THEMSELVES.
On April 23, 2020, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker issued an updated and expanded version of the emergency COVID-19 Executive Order, which declared that “a person or entity may not commence a residential eviction action pursuant to or arising under 735 ILCS 5/9-101 et seq., unless a tenant poses a direct threat to the health and safety of other tenants, an immediate and severe risk to property, or a violation of any applicable building code, health ordinance, or similar regulation.”
In spite of this, eviction filings have not stopped in Chicago. Because the burden of proof often falls on tenants, and because landlords have money and the legal system on their side, you can be assured that people will be displaced by these nominally illegal evictions. Until tenants are guaranteed the Right to Counsel, housing court will always be stacked in favor of landlords, who can afford to spend big on lawyers who specialize in forcing working class people from their homes. So let’s meet some of the eviction attorneys who - even during a global pandemic, and even in the face of state ban on filings - continue to prey Chicago renters.
(L-R, top row) Amy Sellergren, Jonathan Mikrut, Michael Griffin
(L-R, bottom row) Eileen Kahn, Sanford Kahn, Robert Kahn
SANFORD KAHN LLP
Fast facts:
2 evictions filed after April 23 Executive Order
29 evictions filed total since Stay-at-Home Order
Retained by Landlord Wall of Shamers TLC Properties, on whose behalf they recently filed two evictions that were illegal under CARES Act guidelines. The evictions were later withdrawn after mounting public pressure from TLC tenants and housing justice organizers.
Member of Chicagoland Apartment Association, one of the landlord organizations that signed Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s bogus “Housing Solidarity Pledge.” Founder Sanford Kahn is an Advisory Member of the CAA’s board of directors.
Major contributor to political campaigns, with thousands spent on judicial retention campaigns and thousands more funneled through the PAC of the Chicago Association of Realtors, another “Housing Solidarity Pledge” signer.
Founder Sanford Kahn brags that alone “he files over four hundred Forcible Entry & Detainer actions per month.” The firm as a whole boasts of filing nearly 5,000 evictions every year.
Firm partner Robert Kahn once said, in response to efforts by the Cook County Sheriff’s Department to stop him from evicting a dying woman whose mother’s name was on the apartment lease, “that’s funny… I don’t know how this sheriff thinks we should have sympathy for a person who isn’t our tenant.”
MARVIN L. HUSBY, III
Fast facts:
4 evictions filed after April 23 Executive Order
27 evictions filed total since Stay-at-Home Order
Clients include Wall of Shame inductees East Lake Management and Cagan Management Group, as well as other prominent Chicago landlords like the infamous Kass Management as well as Honore Properties and 606 Realty.
GOOGLE REVIEWS: “he was supposed to have someone serve me papers to appear in court. No one served me but they LIED… to push the process along faster” … “Rude, loud and I think he is a racist. Very unprofessional.”
Currently spending his time at home engaging in some light COVID-19 denialism and Reopen Illinois-sympathetic whining on Facebook.
ADRIAN P. ZENO
Fast facts:
8 evictions filed after April 23 Executive Order
13 evictions filed total since Stay-at-Home Order
Ironically, presented a seminar segment on “Requirements for Lawful Eviction” in November 2019.
Website gives advice to slumlords, suggesting they take advantage of their own failure to make requested property repairs by using scheduled repairs as a pretext to serve tenants with 5-day eviction notices.
“A great method to get a Tenant served is by scheduling an inspection to the leased premises by providing the requisite 48 hour notice... If a Tenant has complained about needed repairs to the property, inform the Tenant that an inspection will take place and inform Tenant to be present during said inspection to point out the areas in need of repair.”
EVAN T. VOBORIL
Fast facts:
2 evictions filed after April 23 Executive Order
6 evictions filed total since Stay-at-Home Order
Brags about his “affordable, aggressive evictions” on his website https://chicagoeviction.attorney/
Luminary author of blog posts like “Winter Eviction? No Reason to Wait!”
Led “A Legal Survival Course for Chicago Landlords” on Facebook on April 27th. No word on whether there were any tips on getting away with illegal eviction filings.
LONCAR LAW, LTD.
Fast facts:
2 evictions filed after April 23 Executive Order
Second generation firm, founded by Blago Loncar and currently run by his son Bobby Loncar.
Bobby Loncar unsuccessfully ran for 10th Ward Alderman with a campaign funded by real estate interests, fellow Wall of Shame inductees David L. Yanoff and Sanford Kahn.
Gave a presentation about the Residential Landlord-Tenant Ordinance for the Chicago Housing Authority; hopefully will not be trusted to give presentations about the COVID-19 executive order, given his apparent failure to understand it.
(L-R) Peter Anthony Johnson, Mario A. Sullivan
JOHNSON AND SULLIVAN LTD.
Fast facts:
5 evictions filed after April 23 executive order
15 evictions filed total since Stay-at-Home Order
Firm partners Peter Anthony Johnson and Mario A. Sullivan specialize in evictions, perpetuating the myth that “Chicago and Illinois have very tenant-friendly laws” while openly flouting the nominal ban on COVID-19 eviction filings.
Filed 5 evictions in one Logan Square building on behalf of Renlin Xia, an honest-to-god medical doctor who is evicting tenants during a pandemic as he tries to flip the property for a $2.5 million asking price.
Mario Sullivan touted his “commitment to public service” as a striving young attorney before going into a life of eviction-for-hire.
DAVID L. YANOFF
Fast facts:
2 evictions filed after April 23 executive order
14 evictions filed total since Stay-at-Home Order
Go-to attorney for Neighborhood Building Owners Alliance Vice President Marty Max, having filed all 8 of his MLC Properties COVID evictions.
Calls himself “El Hombre at The Law Office of David L. Yanoff & Assocs., Ltd.” which is embarrassing. His firm’s website is www.evictionattorneychicago.com, which is gross.
Donated $200 to Bobby Loncar’s failed aldermanic campaign. Creeps of a feather flock together.
