Department of Transportation v. Zabel

The Department of Transportation of the State of Illinois appeals from an order of the Circuit Court of Grundy County which dismissed the petition for condemnation of certain lands belonging to defendants Fred Zabel, Jr., and Jeanne Zabel, as a sanction for the purported failure to comply with discovery orders of that court.

The record discloses that the Department filed the condemnation proceeding against defendants to obtain land for construction of Interstate Highway 55 between Bloomington and Joliet. The petitioner thereafter initiated the so-called “quick-take” proceeding under the…