Lawyer Wins Fight Against Ticket Issued by Private Subdivision Cop, But Loses Legal Business
The citizen’s arrest made famous by The Andy Griffith Show has taken on a new form, as homeowners associations hire private guards to patrol subdivisions and apartment complexes.
Former Chicago suburban prosecutor Ken Poris experienced the phenomenon when an officer in his LaSalle County, Ill., subdivision flashed the amber lights of his squad car until Poris pulled over, the Chicago Tribune reports. The officer took Poris’ license and wrote him a speeding ticket.
But the officer was a private cop hired by Poris’ homeowners association, and Poris decided to fight the $50 ticket. He won last month when an Illinois appeals court ruled the association was liable for false imprisonment and ordered a trial court to assess damages. “The security officers employed by the association are attempting to assert police powers,” the court said in its opinion. “They have neither the right nor the power to do so.”
Poris says the fight has resulted in lost referrals to his law practice and anger among subdivision residents. “Nobody understands what I’m really fighting about,” he told the Tribune. “It’s been very lonely the past three years.”
A lawyer for the homeowners association told the Tribune there was a “high likelihood” his client would ask the Illinois Supreme Court to hear the case.
