Judge evicts self-appointed exec director from Chicago Filipino community center

APRIL 2017 PROTEST vs. ELAI NE LEHMAN: Self-appointed FACGC executive director Elaine Lehman asks Chicago police officers to remove original board directors from the Jose Rizal Heritage Center after they fired her from her position. With her enablers like Dr. Rufino Crisostomo (right) she was able to illegally retain her title and make the Rizal Center her residence for five years. Circuit Judge Clare J. Quish in her verdict ordered her to vacate the place and stop representing the FACGC. (PINOY file photo / Anong)

CHICAGO— A Chancery Court ruling ordered Elaine Lehman, 56, to vacate the premises of the Jose Rizal Heritage Center at 1332 W. Irving Park Road in this city no later than Sept 12, 2022 and to immediately turn over the control of the building to the original Filipino American Council of Chicago (FACGC) board of directors whom Lehman illegally disenfranchised in early 2017.

Circuit Judge Clare J. Quish’s  Aug. 19 verdict in favor of the plaintiff, FACGC board of directors headed by Jerry Clarito, ended an acrimonious and protracted legal battle that divided the Filipino community in the area causing costly disruption in activities  and  displacement for many Filipino Americans who depended on the Rizal Center as the main venue for numerous events.

The Jose Rizal Community Center has long been a venue for Filipino organizations in Greater Chicago Area. WEBSITE

Judge Quish spelled out clearly Lehman’s allegation that she’s duly appointed executive director of the organization in January 2017 had no legal basis and ruled further that all actions  from that time that she and her co-respondents had taken over were all not valid.

Most notably, these actions include her move to make herself the resident manager of the Rizal Center where she and her husband, Ari Lehman, resided illegally for more than five years. (The Center is not a residential building and their stay is in violation of the building code.)

In calculated moves after she assumed her title of Executed Director, Lehman fired incumbent members of the board and invited and installed her enablers as members of the board—mostly disgruntled former members of the FACGC including Rufino Crisostomo, Alexander Gonzales, Robert Mittenthal and Jose Mauricio (now all deceased).

Arcadio “ Jun” Joaquin volunteered  as the pro bono lawyer for the original board members in filing the court case to recover the control of Rizal Center and to declare the original board of directors as the legitimate FACGC board.

Joaquin  persevered for two years to pursue the case before Circuit Judge Sofia Hall who eventually ruled that the case be refiled. Due to illness, Joaquin  resigned as the lawyer for the plaintiff. (Joaquin died last July 29, see Obit on p. 44)

The plaintiff hired Alex D. Marks of Burke, Warren, McKay & Serritella, P.C.as the new lawyer, and the defendant was represented by Deidre Baumann. Judge Clare J. Quish was assigned to hear the case. She set the trial in May that lasted for five days.

During the trial, Lehman claimed that she was invited by FACGC Board Chair Jerry Clarito to a leadership training on Jan, 15, 2017 and that the Executive Director position was offered to her.

She also alleged that on Jan. 27, 2017, she was confirmed as FACGC’s Executive Director during a Board Meeting. However, various members of the original board testified that no such action was taken due to lack of quorum. For his part, Clarito testified that he was in Manila during the time.

However, Lehman arbitrarily evicted member-organizations who used the Rizal Center as their meeting place. These include the FACGC Board Members that she claimed had hired her, The Knights of Rizal (KOR), The Joy Dance Club, and the Catholic Prayer Group. The Alliance of Filipinos for Immigration Rights and Empowerment (AFIRE), a tenant, was also let go—displacements that negatively impacted the groups’ activities.

Clarito said, “The court enters a declaration  that… All actions by Lehman and the Gonzales Faction from Jan. 27, 2017 to the present were invalid and in contravention of the 2016 Constitution and By-Laws in effect at that time. The Plaintiff… is the true and legitimate Board of Directors of the FACGC.”

Judge Quish also ordered Lehman and her co-defendants to pay the plaintiff $105,980 in damages. She also ruled that the defendants cease from representing the FACGC in any fashion or accessing organizational funds. Lehman and her co-defendants have yet to account for the money they had received in the past five years of their illegal use of the Rizal Center.

In a Aug. 23 phone interview, Clarito said that their lawyer, Alex Marks, will soon reach out to the defense lawyer to work out a smooth transition during the time up to Sept. 12. When asked if his group would access the building prior to the Lehman’s departure, Clarito declared, “We do not want to create anymore rancor. We already won the case.”

Clarito also wrote,“Yes, the legitimate board is our board. Details will be shared to you all once we got them from our counsel. Again, the community’s solidarity grounded our legal struggle to our history of fighting injustice. This is a good piece that belongs to our common struggle. Mabuhay! Salamat po sa inyong lahat.”

Clarito also admitted that the FACGC must retire a substantial amount of legal fees.  A “One for Rizal” concert starring singer Irene Alano Rhodes was held on Aug. 14 at the Chevy Chase Country Club in Wheeling, Illinois to benefit the plaintiff’s legal fees.