Chicago officials plan to file complaint against building owner

CHICAGO -- City officials plan to sue the owners and managers of a building where 13 people died in a porch collapse over the weekend, claiming there was no permit to build the porch.

The complaint also will allege the three-story apartment building was illegally converted from five units to three, according to the Building Department. City building officials plan to ask for a court order requiring immediate replacement of the porch and could seek up to $500 a day for each violation.

The city will file a complaint Wednesday in Housing Court against LG Properties, LG Properties president Philip Pappas and Restoration Specialists LLC, the Building Department said Tuesday.

"Although the cause of this tragedy is still under investigation, it is clear that the defendants did not follow the requirements of the building code when the building was rehabbed in 1998," said Norma Reyes, buildings commissioner.

Pappas is scheduled to return Thursday from a trip to Canada, according to a woman who answered the phone at LG Properties and would not comment. Mike Aufrecht, an attorney for Pappas, did not immediately return calls from The Associated Press.

Directory assistance did not have a listing for Restoration Specialists.

The collapse occurred about 12:30 a.m. Sunday during a party at the apartment building in Lincoln Park, an affluent neighborhood popular with recent college graduates.

About 50 people, most in their early 20s, were on a third-floor porch when it fell, causing a chain reaction that sent porches on the second and first floor plummeting to the basement.

Seven men and six women died, most of them crushed on the lower porches. At least 57 people were injured.

Police have said they do not plan to file criminal charges. The Buildings Department is inspecting 42 other buildings owned or managed by Pappas and LG Properties.

The first funeral for one of the victims of the collapse, 25-year-old Julie Sorkin, was held Tuesday. Services for most of the other victims were scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday.

Families of those who lived at the apartment building were allowed inside Tuesday to retrieve their belongings.