A Cook County judge is set to decide next week whether to punish the plaintiffs in a high-profile civil lawsuit accusing a Dolton trustee of sexual assault, after they skipped court-ordered depositions earlier this month. The showdown is scheduled for next Thursday at 9 a.m. at the Richard J. Daley Center, 50 W. Washington St. in Chicago, where Judge Jonathan Clark Green is expected to hear Thornton Township’s push for sanctions. The tug-of-war over depositions and deadlines could determine whether the case heads toward trial or gets sharply trimmed by the court.
Thornton Township has asked the court to impose sanctions, arguing the plaintiffs failed to appear for depositions set for April 8 and April 9. The township’s filing points out that Cook County Judge Jerry Esrig entered a March 10 order requiring those depositions and says the plaintiffs refused to offer alternative dates other than May 26 and May 28, according to the Chicago Tribune. The township contends the effort to strike Esrig’s order is a delay tactic and is asking the court to block late evidence, strike testimony, and potentially shift legal fees.
Allegations and earlier settlement
The underlying suit stems from claims by a former Dolton and Thornton Township employee, who says she blacked out during a May 2023 trip to Las Vegas and later woke up next to Trustee Andrew Holmes, an incident Las Vegas police investigated. Holmes has denied any wrongdoing and was not criminally charged in that probe, and he was later let go by the nonprofit Chicago Survivors after the allegations surfaced. Dolton’s board approved a settlement tied to the complaint last fall, as reported by CBS Chicago.
Court schedule and who’s presiding
Court postings list Judge Jonathan Clark Green on the Cook County Law Division calendar and reflect additional assignments earlier this year, according to the Circuit Court of Cook County orders page. The upcoming sanctions hearing is slated for the Richard J. Daley Center, the county courthouse at 50 W. Washington St. in downtown Chicago, per the Daley Center visitor information. Thornton Township’s motion focuses on enforcing the court’s discovery schedule and halting what it characterizes as dilatory tactics that have slowed fact-finding.
What sanctions could mean
If the judge finds that the plaintiffs or their attorneys violated procedural rules, Illinois courts can impose sanctions under Illinois Supreme Court Rule 137, including orders to pay fees and costs and, in more extreme situations, dismissal of claims. The rule requires that filings be well grounded in fact and not brought for an improper purpose, and appellate decisions emphasize that courts review sanction requests with an eye on the full record and on the parties’ ability to pursue their claims in good faith. Fee awards for discovery misconduct are a common remedy, while outright dismissal is relatively rare and typically reserved for serious abuse of the judicial process, according to reported Illinois opinions summarized on FindLaw.
The sanctions fight, which is more about procedure than the core allegations at this stage, returns to court next Thursday. Judge Green’s decision could keep the path to trial intact or shut the case down before those questions are ever heard, according to the Chicago Tribune. The complaint also recounts an allegation that, if accurate, led one participant to warn that “Henyard would be ruined and all of the work she had done would be lost,” language the lawsuit cites in describing efforts to contain the fallout. Attorneys for the parties did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
