The city of Naperville is asking a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit seeking $20 million in damages filed by a Naperville woman who was acquitted of a city charge that she stole a classmate’s AirPods while she was a student at Naperville North High School.
In May, Amara Harris filed a civil suit against the city and Naperville police officers Juan Leon and Jonathan Pope charging that their pursuit of the case caused her emotional and financial injury.
The dismissal motion was the city’s response to the case, filed Wednesday by its attorneys Michael Berasani and G. David Mathues of the Itasca-based Hervas, Condon & Bersani law firm.
Harris alleges in the suit that her civil rights were violated by both the theft citation she received as a 17-year-old junior at Naperville North in 2019 and the city’s subsequent prosecution of the case when she refused to plead guilty to the crime and pay the ticket.
Harris, who has adamantly maintained she accidentally picked up the other student’s AirPods, successfully fought Naperville in court over the charge last year.
The suit, filed by civil rights attorneys S. Todd Yeary and Juan Thomas, contends that Harris, who is Black, was racially discriminated against and intimidated by the city and its officers as a result of the 2019 incident, causing her to suffer “economic damages, emotional distress, humiliation, loss of dignity and other injuries.”
In its motion, the city says Harris’ lawsuit does not “state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.”
“Plaintiff Amara Harris seeks non-existent remedies,” a legal memo filed in conjunction with motion states. “This misguided suit should be dismissed.”
The two-page motion and 12-page supporting legal memo contends there is no factual basis or court precedent for most of the claims Harris makes.
The documents also say there is no foundation for claims that Leon and Pope abused the citation process or that the city was negligent in the hiring, training, supervising and retaining of its officers, intentionally inflicted emotional distress on Harris or maliciously prosecuted the case.
“Harris has not alleged any plausible violation of her constitutional rights,” according to the motion.
The motion takes particular issue with Harris’ claim that the citation she received in 2019 was part of a broader systemic problem with the city and its police department. Her suit charges the department has “a documented history of improperly issuing tickets to students for minor infractions, and disproportionately targeting students of color and other protected groups.”
In response, the dismissal motion says, “Harris has not alleged any facts to support allegations of a ‘pattern’ of misconduct beyond her own experience and a conclusory assertion to the effect that ‘this kind of thing happens a lot,’” which is an accusation that “simply will not fly.”
Harris’ suit alleges that the patterned behavior is “evidenced by public data from the school district.”
A Chicago Tribune and ProPublica report published two years ago looked into police in Illinois schools issuing tickets to students for violating municipal ordinances. ProPublica and the Tribune reported on Harris’ case specifically as part of the broader investigation, “The Price Kids Pay.”
Through the investigation, reporters documented 12,000 tickets Illinois students received over nearly three years for violations, including possession of vaping devices, disorderly conduct and truancy.
It also identified a pattern of racial disparities in ticketing, including at Naperville North High School, in which Black students were almost five times more likely than their white peers to receive tickets.
Mathues, city spokeswoman Linda LaCloche and Harris’ attorneys all declined to comment on the motion.