Woodbine Park Prairie Estates Ass'n v. Chastain Associates LLC

── Woodbine Park Prairie Estates Ass'n v. Chastain Associates LLC ── Court: Appellate Court of Illinois Date: April 16, 2026 Category: General NOTICE 2026 IL App (5th) 231092-U NOTICE Decision filed 04/16/26. The This order was filed under text of this decision may be NO. 5-23-1092 Supreme Court Rule 23 and is changed or corrected prior to not precedent except in the the filing of a Petition for IN THE limited circumstances allowed Rehearing or the disposition of under Rule 23(e)(1). the same. APPELLATE COURT OF ILLINOIS FIFTH DISTRICT ______________________________________________________________________________ WOODBINE PARK PRAIRIE ESTATES ) Appeal from the HOMEOWNERS ASSOCIATION, ) Circuit Court of ) Macon County. Plaintiff-Appellant, ) ) v. ) No. 19-L-7 ) CHASTAIN & ASSOCIATES LLC, GREG FOLTZ, and ) PHILIP COCHRAN, ) Honorable ) Rodney S. Forbes, Defendants-Appellees. ) Judge, presiding. ______________________________________________________________________________ JUSTICE BOIE delivered the judgment of the court. Presiding Justice Cates and Justice Barberis concurred in the judgment. ORDER ¶1 Held: We affirm the judgment of the circuit court granting partial summary judgment where the plaintiff failed to demonstrate a genuine issue of material fact concerning an injury in fact, and remaining claims were voluntarily dismissed. ¶2 On January 29, 2019, the plaintiff, Woodbine Park Prairie Estates Homeowners Association, filed a complaint against the defendants, Chastain & Associates LLC (Chastain), Greg Foltz, and Philip Cochran, in the circuit court of Macon County, Illinois. An amended complaint was filed on August 5, 2019, a second amended complaint was filed on December 12, 2019, and a third amended complaint was filed on March 9, 2023. The third amended complaint alleged counts of breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, fraud, civil conspiracy, spoliation of evidence, and negligence. 1 ¶3 On July 28, 2023, the circuit court granted summary judgment on all, except two, counts alleged in the third amended complaint. The plaintiff moved to voluntarily dismiss the remaining two counts, which the circuit court granted on October 16, 2023. The plaintiff then timely appealed, raising four issues for this court’s consideration. For the following reasons, we affirm the judgment of the circuit court. ¶4 I. BACKGROUND ¶5 The plaintiff is the homeowners association for the Woodbine Park Prairie Estates (Woodbine Estates), a residential development located in Macon County, Illinois. The background information concerning the development of the Woodbine Estates has been provided in Fletcher v. Flynn, 2024 IL App (5th) 220818, ¶¶ 3-31, 1 a previous opinion issued by this court. As such, it will not be repeated here except as necessary to address the issues within this appeal. ¶6 The defendant, Chastain, is an engineering firm and the defendant, Greg Foltz, was the former managing partner of Chastain prior to his retirement. The defendant, Philip Cochran, was