Evanston Alderman Robin Rue Simmons, 5th Ward, reportedly has been ordered to pay over $64,000 to a couple who claimed she walked away from a home rehab job before it was done.
The Chicago Tribune reports that Circuit Court Judge Thaddeus Stephan Machnik issued a default judgment last week against Rue Simmons after she failed to appear in court to respond to the suit filed by Evanston residents Sophia and Tommie Jenkins.
Before her election last year Rue Simmons operated a contracting firm, Signature Construction Services. The Jenkins say they paid her $160,000 for a gut rehab of their home in 2013 but she walked off the job before it was finished.
Rue Simmons’ attorney, Ed Mullen, withdrew from the case earlier this year, but told the Tribune the suit was “a frivolous case with political motives.”