Lawsuit: Joliet banquet hall owes over $88,000 in rent

A company that runs a Joliet banquet hall is being sued over rent payments after losing a lengthy court battle with its landlord.

La Hacienda De Las Americas, the company that runs La Hacienda banquet hall at 24 Ohio St., has been sued by California-based Nomanbhoy 2007 Children’s Trust for allegedly owing about $88,829 in rent.

The trust, which owns the Ohio Street property, also seeks to evict the Plainfield company from the property, claiming it had been unlawfully withholding it.

Juan Jaime, president of La Hacienda De Las Americas, lost a court battle in November against Shabbir Nomanbhoy, a trustee of Nomanbhoy 2007, over contract disputes. Jaime filed a lawsuit against Nomanbhoy in 2015. Calls to both Jaime and La Hacienda Banquet Hall were not returned Monday.

Will County Judge John Anderson found Jaime “committed various acts of misconduct,” such as collecting rents and pocketing some of the proceeds, entering into fraudulent leases, failing to fully pay rent pursuant to his own lease and failing to return security deposits held by him.

Judge Anderson found Jaime and his companies La Hacienda De Las Americas and Supermercado De Las Hacienda in default of their leases. He granted Nomanbhoy exclusive possession of the premises for the two Ohio Street companies.

Anderson also found Jaime liable to Nomanbhoy in the amount of about $1.6 million over breach of contract and fraud claims.

La Hacienda de Las Americas banquet hall was fined $1,000 by the Joliet Liquor Commission in 2013 for reselling alcohol bought from a retailer.

Thomas Giarrante, former Joliet mayor and liquor commissioner, said the banquet hall had been buying alcohol at stores such as Sam’s Club and Costco and then reselling it.