South Cook News

State Sen. Michael E. Hastings (D–Frankfort) could be ordered to pay his political rivals’ legal fees after a judge largely dismissed his allegations in a defamation and privacy lawsuit. 

The case, Michael Hastings v. Timothy Pawula, Michael W. Glotz, and Tim Ozinga’s Big Tent Coalition LLC, centers on allegations that Hastings’ opponents circulated digitally altered images and text messages in order to damage his political reputation during the 2022 election cycle. 

Hastings’ complaint says the images were intended to aid his Republican challenger Patrick Sheehan who lost the 19th District race by fewer than 1,000 votes.

Hastings originally sought $6 million from each defendant, alleging defamation, false light invasion of privacy, non-consensual dissemination of sexualized images and civil conspiracy.

Now, a motion for sanctions seeks reimbursement for defendants’ legal fees and a dismissal of the remaining claims, which now focus on emotional distress and related conspiracy allegations. 

Patrick Walsh, attorney for Tinley Park's mayor, Glotz, described the lawsuit as politically motivated and filed in bad faith.

“I contacted Senator Hastings' attorney and sent him a safe harbor notice, letting him know that his complaint was filed long past the statute of limitations, and that we believe it was filed for political purposes, and that we would give him an opportunity to dismiss the case, consider it just a mistake, and not seek sanctions,” Walsh told South Cook News. 

Walsh said Hastings’ lawyers refused to drop the lawsuit, prompting him to file a dismissal motion.

“They refused to dismiss it voluntarily,” Walsh said. “So we filed a motion to dismiss and request sanctions based on the complaint being filed in bad faith and on the fact that they knew it was filed long beyond the statute of limitations having expired.”

The motion to dismiss notes Hastings “has been locked in a bitter political battle” for years with Glotz in what they described as a “scorched-earth” effort to unseat the mayor.

“In the April 1, 2025, consolidated election, including spending, nearly $200,000.00 in support of several candidates for elected office in the Village and sending out a steady stream of, ironically, mass text messages and mailers that were highly critical of Glotz,” the motion to dismiss reads. “Hastings was also a vocal critic of Glotz in print and social media.”

Notably, Hastings’ lawsuit was filed just over a month before Glotz was re-elected in a race against a Hastings-backed candidate.

“In our motion to dismiss, we allege that this complaint was filed as the 2025 mayoral election was heating up,” Walsh said. “It was distributed to the local media immediately after it was filed.” 

Walsh noted the timing of the lawsuit as a key factor in their argument as most of the claims were far past the statute of limitations. 

“The complaint or the alleged conduct was allegedly committed in November of 2022,” he said. “The complaint was filed in February of 2025, and the statute of limitations is one year. We moved to dismiss and requested an evidentiary hearing in furtherance of sanctions.” 

Subsequently, Judge Carrie E. Hamilton dismissed the defamation and false light claims, ruling they were time-barred under Illinois law, leaving only counts of intentional infliction of emotional distress (IIED) and a related civil conspiracy claim. She also allowed Hastings’ legal team to amend their filing. 

The remaining claims allege that Hastings suffered ongoing harassment and financial harm extending into 2023.

Walsh said the defendants intend to test the veracity of Hastings’ remaining claims through discovery in the coming months.

The legal action adds to a history of controversies surrounding Hastings, including allegations of domestic abuse prompting calls from public figures including Gov. J.B. Pritzker for him to resign, previous civil suits and workplace misconduct claims.

In court records released during the 2022 campaign, Hastings was accused of physically assaulting his ex-wife, Katie Hastings, by putting her in chokehold. 

Katie also alleged that he verbally abused her at public events, calling her derogatory names, such as “bitch,” ”whore” and “fat” and threatening her in front of their children. Katie also accused Hastings of filing false police reports and attempting to have her arrested.

The civil case against Pawula and Glotz was filed after a related criminal case against Pawula in which he was accused of sending obscene messages to Hastings during the 2022 campaign. 

That case, investigated by the Illinois State Police and brought by Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul’s Office, was dismissed. 

The motion to dismiss notes the Pawula case. 

“Hastings used his influence to cause Pawula to be ‘charged’ in Will County with sending obscene images and sought unsuccessfully to cause Glotz to be charged in order to embarrass him politically and torpedo his campaign in advance of the April 1, 2025, election,” the motion reads. 

Pawula’s alleged offense was that he sent memes, some of which featured the heads of Hastings and State Rep. Bob Rita’s (D-Blue Island) superimposed on obese bodies. 

“The images are clearly satirical and, even though they may be crass, are expressions protected by the First Amendment,” the motion to dismiss reads. 

The motion to dismiss also notes that Hastings has a habit of bringing Glotz and ex-wife Katie into litigation with which they have no connection. 

“In one example, Hastings attempted to invoke a Circuit Court’s subpoena power to obtain documents from Glotz as part of Hastings’ divorce proceedings against his former wife, Katie Hastings,” the motion to dismiss reads.

The filings note such tactics serve Hastings’ personal and political agenda rather than any legitimate legal purpose.

“The judge overseeing Hastings’ divorce rightfully recognized Hastings’ ulterior motive and denied the attempt,” the motion to dismiss reads. “As set forth below, his ex-wife is also a frequent target of these rogue subpoenas, which regularly seek information about their marriage and her communications with Glotz.” 

The upcoming sanctions hearing will allow the defendants to subpoena Hastings and other witnesses, including the law enforcement officer who sought to criminalize the defendants, and will include live testimony and document discovery, potentially involving tax returns and depositions of law enforcement officials.

“We are also going to call several witnesses to show that the allegations in his complaint are false and knowingly false,” Walsh said. The results of such a probe could influence both Hastings’ financial liability and the political optics of the dispute.

“We are going to call Senator Hastings and others into court and have him give live testimony to explain his conduct in this case and to use that testimony in furtherance of our request that he pay all of our or the village's attorney fees and costs in defending this case,” Walsh said. 

In addition to the claims related to his 2022 re-election, Hastings has filed a separate lawsuit against his 2024 Republican opponent, Samantha Gasca, and her campaign committee, alleging a similar smear effort. 

Hastings won re-election against Gasca with 56% of the vote.