Blackstone Condominium Association v. Speights-Carnegie, 2017 IL App (1st) 153516

Blackstone Condominium Association (plaintiff) sued unit owner Maya Speights-Carnegie for unpaid condominium assessments covering Feb. 2010–Jan. 2012.
Plaintiff originally filed a forcible entry and detainer action in Oct. 2011; after Chase foreclosed the unit and defendant lost possession, that action was vacated in Mar. 2012.
In Apr. 2014 plaintiff filed a breach of contract action (civil cover sheet labeled "breach of contract") seeking unpaid assessments, attorney fees, and costs; the case proceeded in small claims court.
After a bench trial plaintiff obtained judgment (initially $4,301, later reduced to $2,913) plus costs.
Plaintiff then petitioned for attorney fees under section 9.2(b) of the Condominium Property Act, arguing incurred fees are part of the unit owner’s common expense obligation.
The trial court denied the fee petition, finding plaintiff pursued contract recovery and had not produced any written contract or condominium declaration authorizing attorney fees; plaintiff appealed.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether plaintiff may recover attorney fees incurred in the breach action	Section 9.2(b) makes attorneys' fees part of the unit owner's common expenses, so plaintiff can recover them	Plaintiff pursued a contract theory and offered no contract or declaration authorizing fee recovery	Denied: no statutory or contractual basis shown for fee recovery in this action
Whether section 9.2(b) alone provides a procedural remedy to collect those fees	Section 9.2(b) integrates fees into common expenses, implying recoverability	Section 9.2(b) does not specify the procedure; recovery requires using statutory remedies (lien, foreclosure, forcible entry) or a contract	Court: 9.2(b) does not by itself supply a collection mechanism for fees in a contract action
Whether pursuing contract claim (instead of statutory remedies) forecloses statutory fee recovery	Fees incurred relate to default and thus fall under condominium statute	Choosing contract theory means plaintiff cannot rely on statutory remedies that permit fees	Court: pursuing contract theory precludes invoking statutory fee remedies absent express statutory basis
Whether trial court abused discretion in denying fees for lack of written fee provision	Plaintiff incurred reasonable fees and prevailed, so fees should be awarded	No written instrument or condominium declaration was produced to authorize fee shifts	Court: no abuse of discretion; denial affirmed

Board of Directors of Warren Boulevard Condominium Ass'n v. Milton, 399 Ill. App. 3d 922 (2010) (explains that unpaid common expenses become a lien and associations may foreclose or use forcible entry and detainer remedies)
Kaiser v. MEPC American Properties, Inc., 164 Ill. App. 3d 978 (1987) (trial court has discretion to award only reasonable attorney fees when contract authorizes recovery)