Rae was deep in this mess too.
I ordered an extra-large Earl Grey and parked myself at a table in Intelligentsia, then pulled my iPad out of my bag. Pulling open the Cook County Assessor’s Office website, I entered the parcel number of the lot I had inquired about. The lot I had seen being cleared. Felix Panici’s name was listed as property owner. Which meant Felix owned this lot as well, and Rae had pulled the permits. If she was complicit in this development project, that could explain the hesitation she’d shown in her divorce. I had a feeling neither one of them had disclosed the properties as assets to the court.
Armed with a case number for the early APR lawsuit Bruni had lost spectacularly, I typed the information into the court database and pulled up the history. Castillo Imports, LLC v. APR Holdings, LLC. The suit involved a claim over shoddy workmanship. Castillo Imports alleged APR knowingly failed to install appropriate roofing underlayment as a cost-cutting measure, resulting in leaks and damage to the interior of the warehouse and the property Castillo Imports stored in the building APR built.
The legal ping-pong on the case was a staggering display of two parties with egos the size of the Grand Canyon. Once again, attorney Bruni displayed his naïveté and ineptitude, essentially arguing that APR had no knowledge that their roofing contractor had basically installed a plastic drop cloth versus a proper waterproof membrane under the coating material. In other words, he played the blame game. Naturally, Atkinson held APR responsible for supervision of their subcontractors, stating that they were free to file suit against the roofing subcontractor if that were the case. In the meantime, the new owner suffered a loss, and APR was ordered to pay a restitution of nearly $800,000. Of course, the case was further complicated by the pass-the-buck policy built in to all insurance companies, but bad insurance company practices were a subject of a different story.
Bruni’s legal filings were a jumbled mess not fitting a third-year law student. It was no surprise that Atkinson quickly lost patience with the charade. If he could’ve gotten away with telling Bruni to go back to law school in his ruling, he would have.
Again, why had APR hired this incompetent wet-behind-the-ears attorney?
Opening a browser, I did a quick search for Castillo Imports. The business was still located in the warehouse identified in the legal filings. They ran a wholesale outfit that distributed gift items imported from Mexico. I jotted down the address, grabbed my tea, and headed for my car.
The warehouse was situated on a stretch of North Halstead that was a spotty mix of small industrial units, residential three-flats with questionable safety standards, and empty lots openly recruiting development. Set back from the street, the brick structure’s main attribute was a huge three-bay garage with rolling metal doors. A sign indicated the office was behind a beige metal door on the right past the garage area. I pulled up to the office door and parked.
As I entered, I found a woman stationed at a utilitarian metal desk likely rescued from a liquidation sale. She looked up from her phone as I walked in, but didn’t say anything. A large whiteboard on the wall behind her listed dates and order numbers. A shipping schedule, I assumed. Like most warehouses, the decor was minimal, functional, and cheap. A smattering of their wares sat collecting dust on top of cabinets.
“Hi, I was wondering if Mr. Castillo was available?” I said as she ended her call.
“And who are you?” Her eyes said the next part, And why should I care?
It was a look I’d seen many a time before. Hell, it was a look I’d given many a time. The look reserved for people assumed to be selling something no one wanted.
“I’m a reporter with Link-Media. I’d like to speak to Mr. Castillo about a story I’m working on. Tell him it involves APR Holdings.”
May as well lead with the thing that would get his attention. She picked up the phone. Then a moment later, instructed me to go through the door to our left.
A man in his fifties wearing a polo shirt embroidered with the company logo walked toward me. Rows of orange industrial shelving ran from front to back. Each shelf was stacked with dozens of small boxes, all labeled and tagged. Huge fans near the twenty-foot ceiling blew air across the space. A handful of workers with clipboards and carts pulled product for associated sales orders.
“Mr. Castillo?”
He smiled at me brightly and extended his hand. “Yes, call me Marcus. How can I help you?”
“My name is Andrea Kellner. I’m a reporter with Link-Media. I was wondering if I could talk to you about your legal situation with APR Holdings a few years ago.”
“What have they done now?” His face held a mix of sarcasm and disgust.
“I’m already getting the impression you don’t trust them.” There was no reason to tell the man any of my suspicions, but APR Holdings did not have an ally in this man.
“No, I don’t, and for good reason,” he said. “These people have lied to me from the moment we started down our path together. I don’t imagine they’ve changed. Besides, why else would a reporter care about an old case unless it was tied to something new?”
“I’ve read the filings, so I’m up-to-date on the basics of what happened. First off, the judgment was in your favor. Did APR pay up?”
“Eventually, but not until I threatened to drag them back into court. And when they did pay, they shorted me four thousand dollars. It wasn’t worth the legal hassle of going back into court for that amount of money. No doubt they knew that and thought they could get away with it. I could have come after them and asked to be awarded legal fees, too, but at that point, I just wanted to be done with it. I was in the middle of repairing this place and replacing my inventory. It took me months to regroup. And I lost a lot of clients. Small retailers use distributors like mine because we hold inventory, we ship fast, and the minimum orders are small. Having my attention diverted for four grand was a waste of time, although it would have been fun to win twice.”
“Other than APR’s attorney, who did you have contact with from APR?”
“They trotted out a guy who was the project manager for this development. And we had the roofing contractor. The project manager blamed the roofing guy. The roofing guy said he did what the manager told him to. It was a circus.”
“So only the project manager, not the owner or anybody from upper management?”
“I think we deposed the owner, but it’s been a few years, so I might have to look back at my files on that to be sure. When I took this place, I worked with a Realtor, not the company. It was pre-construction.”
“Do you remember the name of the project manager or the owner?”
“Not off the top of my head. Like I said, I have that in my notes, but I’d have to look for it.”
“If you wouldn’t mind looking for that information, I’d sure appreciate it. They seem to be working hard to stay off the radar.” I handed him my card. “Feel free to text me.”
“Sure. If I find it, I’ll send it to you. People should know what they’re getting into with this company. But I think the project manager isn’t with them anymore. When they weren’t paying up promptly, my attorney reached out to the company and was told the guy was gone.”
“I’d still be interested in his name,” I said.
“I’ll send it.” He paused. “I’m not sure if I should say this, since we never had proof, but while we were going through all this mess, my attorney said he believed APR tried to bribe the judge. Again, I don’t remember the details of why he suspected bribery. I think there was something about an email sent in error. We certainly had a conversation about it. It was at the end of the case, and whoever investigates judges for corruption was just starting to look into it. We had to decide if we wanted to continue the suit or start over with a new judge. I chose to proceed. Had I lost and the judge turned out to have been on the take, I would have been able to have the ruling dismissed and the case retried, so I went forward.”
“Do you know how that allegation played out?”
“My understanding is that no one could prove anything. The APR email was argued to be misconstrued, and they found no evidence the judge received any money. My case was also long over by that point, so although it was nerve-racking, it didn’t ultimately yield anything.”
But it did suggest APR Holdings was willing to tip the scales on an outcome.