The City of Joliet is expected to receive a reimbursement of litigation costs after it was sued by the former Joliet mayor over claims he was the victim of an alleged conspiracy.

The court order on Tuesday from U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Cummings did not set a specific amount that the city should receive from the attorneys for former Mayor Bob O’Dekirk.

O’Dekirk’s attorneys and the city’s attorneys are “directed to meet and confer regarding the amount of fees and costs incurred by the city,” according to Cummings’ court order.

“The parties are strongly encouraged to resolve among themselves the issue of the total amount of attorney’s fees and costs due,” Cummings said.

O’Dekirk’s lawsuit claimed former Joliet Police Chief Al Roechner and several others “devised a plan to create political backlash against O’Dekirk in the hopes of spoiling his bid for re-election and subjecting him to criminal charges,” according to Cummings.

Cummings found sanctions were warranted against O’Dekirk’s attorneys because they failed to conduct sufficient legal research into what the judge called a Section 1983 conspiracy claim.

“Even a simple inquiry into the issues raised by the city’s proposed motion for sanctions would have led plaintiffs’ counsel to the conclusion—mandated by [U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit] precedent—that a Section 1983 conspiracy claim requires the existence of an underlying constitutional violation,” Cummings said.

Cummings’ ruling was announced on Tuesday by Joliet city officials in a news statement.

In a statement, Todd Lenzie, the city’s interim corporation counsel, said O’Dekirk’s legal claims “have always been without merit.”

“In light of this ruling, the City of Joliet has and will continue to pursue all of its rights and remedies on behalf of its residents and will work to recover these costs promptly,” Lenzie said.

In 2025, Cummings had dismissed O’Dekirk’s federal claims on legal grounds but relinquished his jurisdiction on O’Dekirk’s state claims.

Those state claims were dismissed this year by Kankakee County Judge Linda Parkhurst after she found they exceeded the statute of limitations by several years.

Following the dismissal of O’Dekirk’s federal case, several defendants filed motions for sanctions against his attorneys.

Cummings denied the motion for sanctions filed by former Joliet City Council member Jim McFarland, who was accused of participating in the alleged conspiracy against O’Dekirk.

Cummings partially granted the motion for sanctions from the city, Joliet City Council member Pat Mudron, former Joliet Deputy Police Chief Marc Reid and former Shaw Media Executive Editor Joseph Hosey.

Cummings said attorneys for McFarland, Hosey, Mudron and Reid failed to raise certain legal issues in a proposed motion for sanctions.

That failure did not give O’Dekirk’s attorneys “opportunity to review and withdraw their complaint, if deemed appropriate,” Cummings said.