The Illinois Appellate Court for the 4th District on Sept. 2 filed a decision that reversed part of Peoria Judge Stewart Umholtz’ 2024 ruling, and remanded to Peoria with instructions to award an appropriate amount in fees for Justin Penn, who represented Jessica Thomas in action against Peoria County since October of 2021.

“We otherwise affirm the court’s judgment,” said Justice Kathryn Zenoff, who delivered the decision, with Justices Robert Steigmann and Peter Cavanaugh concurring.

Umholtz in February of last year dissolved Thomas’ motion for a preliminary injunction and awarded some of Penn’s requested fees for working as her appointed special prosecutor. However, separate fees for two counts in an amended complaint [XII and XIII] were denied.

The County had argued that those two counts were an improper expansion of the terms of Penn’s appointment, and Umholtz wrote then that the appointment law needed to be “strictly and narrowly construed.”

The Appeals Court said, “We do not interpret the amendment of plaintiff’s complaint to add additional counts that Judge (James) Mack earlier deemed substantially related to the remaining claims to constitute an ‘expansion’ of special prosecutor’s authority.

“We conclude plaintiff’s counsel did not exceed the authority contemplated in (the law) and granted in the appointment order,” the decision continued. “Counsel’s prosecution of counts XII and XIII was within the scope of the authority granted to counsel in the appointment order.”

The legal wrangling started four years ago as Thomas’ claim against the County for reorganizing its financial processes, then included a referendum in November 2022, when 70% of Peoria voters cast ballots to eliminate the County Auditor Office.
No hearing has been scheduled, at press time.