IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE

NORTHERN DISTRICT OF ILLINOIS

WILLIAM AMOR,

Plaintiff,

v.

JOHN REID & ASSOCIATES, et al.,

Defendants.

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Case No. 20-cv-01444

Hon. John Z. Lee

Mag. J. Jeffrey I. Cummings

PLAINTIFF’S MOTION TO APPOINT AND SUBSTITUTE SPECIAL

REPRESENTATIVE FOR DEFENDANT ARTHUR T. NEWEY

Pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 25 and 735 ILCS 5/13-209, 

Plaintiff William Amor, through counsel, hereby moves the Court for an order 

appointing a special representative to defend this action on behalf of deceased

Defendant Estate of Arthur T. Newey. In support of his motion, Plaintiff states as 

follows:

BACKGROUND

1. Plaintiff filed this civil rights lawsuit on February 27, 2020, alleging 

that John Reid & Associates, Defendant Michael Masokas, Defendant The Estate of 

Arthur T. Newey, and Defendant Unknown Employees of John Reid & Associates 

entered into and executed a conspiracy to cause Plaintiff’s arrest and subsequent 

prosecution for a murder and aggravated arson that he did not commit.

2. Specifically, the Complaint alleges that the above-named Defendants 

(Masokas and Newey worked at the time for Reid & Associates) assisted employees 

of the Naperville Police Department by coercing a false “confession” from Plaintiff 

through the use of mental coercion, lies, and improperly suggestive interrogation 
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techniques. As a result, Plaintiff was incarcerated for approximately twenty years

before his conviction was vacated and he was acquitted at a retrial.

3. One of these Reid & Associates employees, Arthur T. Newey, died 

before Plaintiff filed his initial suit. Plaintiff located an obituary for Mr. Newey, 

which confirmed he passed away in 2009 as a resident of La Grange, Illinois. La 

Grange is a village located in Cook County. 

4. Based on the information in Mr. Newey’s obituary, Plaintiff conducted 

a search of Cook County’s Probate Division for any estates opened on behalf of Mr. 

Newey, though the Clerk of the Circuit Court. Plaintiff has not been able to identify 

an open (or closed) estate for Mr. Newey. 

5. Therefore, Plaintiff asks the Court to appoint a special representative 

for the purpose of defending this case on behalf of the Estate of Arthur T. Newey.

ARGUMENT

6. Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 25 provides that if “a party dies and [a] 

claim is not extinguished,” a court may order substitution of a proper party, 

including a decedent’s successor or representative. Fed. R. Civ. P. 25(a)(1). But the 

“Federal Rules of Civil Procedure are silent about the proper procedure when an 

individual dies before a complaint is filed.” Deleon-Reyes v. Guevera, No. 18-cv01028, ECF No. 182 at 2 (N.D. Ill. Mar. 14, 2019) (Exhibit 1.)

7. As the Northern District recently recognized in Deleon-Reyes,

With respect to cases under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, where federal law is 

“deficient in the provisions necessary to furnish suitable remedies and 

punish offenses against law,” a federal court should look to the statutes 

of the state where it sits, to the extent such statutes are not inconsistent 

with the Constitution or federal law. Pursuant to this provision, the 

Seventh Circuit has looked to Illinois statutes to provide remedies in § 
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1983 cases where a plaintiff or defendant has died before a complaint is 

filed.

Id. at 3 (citing 42 U.S.C. § 1988(a); Ward v. Edgeton, 59 F.3d 652, 653 (7th Cir. 

1995); Anderson v. Romero, 42 F.3d 1121 (7th Cir. 1994); Stewart v. Special Adm’r 

of Estate of Mesrobian, 559 F. App’x 543, 548–49 (7th Cir. 2014)).

8. “[T]hese Seventh Circuit decisions look to the Illinois statutory scheme 

allowing a court to appoint a ‘special representative’ where a person . . . against 

whom an action may be brought dies before the commencement of the action and

the cause of action survives.” Deleon-Reyes, ECF No. 182 at 3 (citing 735 ILCS 5/13-

209; Tamburo v. Dworkin, No. 04 C 3317, 2012 WL 104545 (N.D. Ill. Jan. 11, 2012)).

9. Section 5/13-209 of the Illinois Code of Civil Procedure provides that, 

where a party against whom an action may be brought dies before the action is 

commenced and before the statute of limitations expires, the court “may appoint a 

special representative for the deceased party for the purposes of defending the 

action.” 735 ILCS 5/13-209(b)(2). The statute further provides that “the recovery 

shall be limited to the proceeds of any liability insurance protecting the estate and 

shall not bar the estate from enforcing any claims that might have been available to 

it as counterclaims.” Id.

10. Courts in the Northern District have thus found that “735 ILCS 

5/13(b)(2), in combination with 42 U.S.C. § 1988, provides the authority for the 

Court to appoint a special representative for the deceased Defendants for purposes 

of defending [a civil rights] lawsuit.” Deleon-Reyes, ECF No. 182 at 4 (citing Ward, 

59 F.3d at 653, Anderson, 42 F.3d 1121; Stewart, 559 F. App’x at 548–49; Tamburo,

2012 WL 104545). 
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11. Consistent with that finding, numerous courts in this District –

including this Court – have appointed special representatives in numerous civil 

rights cases where the plaintiff’s claims against deceased defendants survived their 

death and the defendants had no open estates. See Batchelor v. City of Chicago, No. 

18 C 8513, ECF No. 83 (N.D. Ill. Sep. 23, 2019) (appointing family members as 

special representatives); Horton v. Rockford, No. 18-cv-06829, ECF No. 82 (N.D. Ill. 

Jan. 15, 2019) (appointing widows of deceased defendants as special 

representatives); Savory v. Cannon, No. 17 C 204, ECF No. 41 (N.D. Ill. Mar. 9, 

2017) (appointing city clerk as special representative for deceased defendants in 

wrongful conviction case); Starks v. Waukegan, No. 09 C 348, ECF No. 208 (N.D. Ill. 

Jan. 15, 2014) (Order Appointing Special Administrator); Rivera v. Lake County, 

974 F. Supp. 2d 1179, 1199 (N.D. Ill. 2013) (appointing special representative for 

deceased defendants in wrongful conviction case); Hicks, 2012 WL 1755735, at *1-2 

(appointing spouse as representative of deceased party). In the past, this Court has 

also permitted the substitution of deceased defendants for the independent 

executors of their estate as party to an outstanding civil rights action. See Brown v. 

Obaisi, No. 16 CV 10422, 2018 WL 4467098, at *1, n. 1 (N.D. Ill. Sept. 18, 2018). 

12. The constitutional and state-law claims Plaintiff has alleged against

the Estates of Arthur Newey (see generally Dkt. No. 67, Ex. 1) survive his death.

See, e.g., 755 ILCS 5/7-6 (personal injury actions survive); Anderson, 42 F.3d at 

1123 (§ 1983 suits survive a party’s death); Bennett v. Tucker, 827 F.2d 63, 68 (7th 

Cir. 1987); Hicks v. Young, No. 10 C 3874, 2012 WL 1755735, at *1-2 (N.D. Ill. May

15, 2012). Plaintiff’s suit was also commenced within the applicable statute of 
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limitations. 

13. The Estate of Arthur T. Newey is a defendant from whom Plaintiff can 

recover under the Illinois indemnification statute. This statute requires the State of 

Illinois to indemnify the Estate because of Reid & Associates’ consultation with the 

Naperville Police Department. See 5 ILCS 350/1(b) (“An individual who renders 

professional advice and consultation to the State through an organization which 

qualifies as an ‘employee’ under the Act is also an employee. The term includes the 

estate or personal representative of an employee.”).1 

14. Therefore, this Court should appoint a special representative for the 

Estate of Arthur T. Newey, so Plaintiff may pursue his claims against the Estate of 

Arthur Newey. The special representative need not be an heir of the decedent. 

Plaintiff has no preference as to who is appointed, so long as he or she participates 

in the case as required by the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.

15. Plaintiff’s counsel has been unable to confer about this motion with 

counsel for Defendants, as Defendants have been summoned but have not yet

appeared in this litigation.

WHEREFORE, Plaintiff respectfully requests the Court enter an order

appointing a special representative to defend this action on behalf of the Estate of 

Arthur T. Newey.

Dated: June 30, 2020 Respectfully submitted,

WILLIAM AMOR 

1 The applicability of this statute is an issue that this Court may have to address at some point in this litigation, but 

Plaintiff raises this issue because the appointment of a special representative is not a formality, but rather is a 

necessity to ensure that Plaintiff can obtain all available sources of recovery for his claims.
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/s/ Mariah Garcia

One of Plaintiff’s Attorneys

Jon Loevy

Tara Thompson

Mariah Garcia 

LOEVY & LOEVY

311 N. Aberdeen St., 3rd Fl.

Chicago, IL 60607

(312) 243-5900 (phone)

mariah@loevy.com

CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE

I hereby certify that on June 30, 2020 I filed the foregoing document using 

the Court’s CM/ECF system, which effected service on all counsel of record. 

/s/ Mariah Garcia

One of Plaintiff’s Attorneys