Ellis Levin, Marina Towers condo association part ways

Was legal counsel on and off for 17 years

20-Apr-10 – Marina Towers Condominium Association has confirmed that a 17-year relationship with Ellis Levin as its legal counsel has come to an end.

According to Daniel Meyer, an attorney with O’Hagan Spencer LLC, a law firm that has represented the condo association in recent years and appears to have replaced Levin, the MTCA board of directors voted last November to “end the Association’s relationship with Mr. Ellis Levin and to retain new legal counsel.”

Meyer referred to a section of the condo association’s bylaws that allows the board of directors to remove employees and other personnel, including accountants and attorneys.

Both Meyer and Levin represented MTCA in a $40 million lawsuit filed against the condo association and other parties in October 2008. The suit was dismissed two months later and again in February 2009. The two also defended the condo association in a consumer fraud complaint – filed with the City of Chicago by a unit owner at Marina City – that was settled in March 2009.

Two complaints filed in Circuit Court by Levin on November 2, 2009, appear to be his last civil cases on behalf of the condo association. O’Hagan Spencer took over both cases on December 11 and a “withdrawal of attorney from case” was allowed by the court on February 22, 2010.

(Left) Former MTCA attorney and former Illinois state representative Ellis Levin, seen here in an undated photo most likely from the 1980s.

The condo board voted to terminate Levin as the association’s legal counsel at its meeting on November 19, 2009, after returning from a half-hour closed session, according to the minutes. The board then voted unanimously to retain the services of Daniel Meyer.

It is not known why Levin was let go. The decision appears to have taken many residents by surprise. Unit owners who attended the November 19 meeting say they do not recall Levin being discussed.

Levin and MTCA first met in 1992

The first time Levin was hired to represent Marina Towers Condominium Association was in 1992, when Richard Flader was president of the condo board. A lawyer since 1973, Levin served in the Illinois House of Representatives from 1977 to 1995. In 1983, he co-authored amendments to The Illinois Condominium Property Act.

In 1992, Levin used the Americans with Disabilities Act to get repairs made to ramps into Marina City from Dearborn and State Streets. He told the Resolution Trust Corporation – the federal thrift bailout agency that owned the complex at the time – that a wheelchair-bound resident was reluctant to use his motorized chair on the ramps because of fear they might collapse. This, said Levin, hampered handicapped access in violation of the Act.

Still, he was let go by the condo board in 2000, which selected Michael Best & Friedrich LLP. According to Dr. Martin Flynn, who was vice president at the time, David Sugar became the board’s regular contact.

Sugar served for about three years until he was replaced by Ellis Levin. According to Mark Ulaszek, who was MTCA treasurer from 2002 to 2003, Levin got his job back with the help of Donna Leonard, the current MTCA president who was then vice president and chair of an attorney and property management review committee.

Focus of misconduct claims by MCO and former board member

While there are no public disciplinary records against Levin it is not for lack of trying. In December 2008, Marina City Online filed a complaint against Levin with the Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission. Among other charges, MCO claimed the attorney violated its First Amendment right to free speech by threatening the web site with large fines.

A second complaint was filed by Dr. Martin Flynn, who was on the MTCA board of directors from 2000 to 2002, alleging Levin single-handedly kept him from running for re-election in 2006 by not accepting a copy of the warranty deed for his condo unit as proof of ownership. The ARDC declined to take action in either complaint.