Suit alleges pastor aided in evading police
Says Orland Park pastor helped retired priest after 2019 crash that left schoolteacher dead
New lawsuits filed on behalf of two Orland Park parochial schoolteachers struck while leaving a Christmas party more than two years ago by a car allegedly driven by a since-deceased priest allege he was helped in evading a police investigation by another pastor at his church.
In response to lawsuits pending in Cook County Circuit Court by Margaret “Rone” Leja and Elizabeth Kosteck, who both worked at St. Michael School, the Chicago Archdiocese denies allegations of a conspiracy involving Geofrey Andama, an associate pastor at St. Michael in Orland Park, and the Rev. Paul Burak, the priest who was allegedly behind the wheel of his car.
Burak, who died Jan. 11, 2021, at age 74, had been charged in connection with the December 2019 death of Leja and the injuries to Kosteck after they all were at a holiday party at the Square Celt in Orland Park.
Burak had retired in 2018 as pastor of St. Michael Catholic Church in Orland Park.
The teachers were walking to their vehicles in a parking lot outside the restaurant when they were struck by a vehicle driven by Burak, according to authorities. Leja, 61, a technology teacher at the Catholic school, later died at Silver Cross Hospital in New Lenox.
In amended lawsuits filed in early December on behalf of Leja and Kosteck, it is alleged that Andama knew Burak was driving the car that struck both Leja and Kosteck, and knew that Burak had been drinking and should not have been driving. Andama later drove Burak’s car to take him to his home in Palos Heights, according to the lawsuits.
Burak’s estate is a defendant in those lawsuits along with the archdiocese, and the complaints were
amended Dec. 3 to include Andama as a defendant.
Andama has not been charged criminally in connection with the Dec. 4, 2019, accident and did not respond to a message seeking comment.
The archdiocese sought to dismiss allegations in both the Leja and Kosteck complaints related to any collusion the church might have had in connection with the collision. Cook County Associate Judge Melissa Durkin sided with the church in a ruling last month, calling the arguments by the plaintiffs “factually deficient,” but gave the attorneys for the women the opportunity to buttress their arguments with added details.
The family of Leja filed its fifth amended complaint Jan. 28, while attorneys for Kosteck filed an amended complaint Feb. 4, her third, according to court records. Both asserted additional details regarding Andama’s alleged actions in shielding Burak from police scrutiny the night the teachers were hit.
Both cases have been consolidated and are being heard by Durkin. A status on the case is scheduled for Nov. 28, according to court records.
Responding to the initial allegations by Leja and Kosteck regarding Andama’s participation in an alleged conspiracy, the archdiocese contended the arguments were “premised entirely on conclusory allegations rather than facts.”
The lawsuits argue that the archdiocese “knowingly and voluntarily participated in a common scheme” with Burak, “by and through its employees and/or agents, including but not limited to Andama.”
The complaints allege the archdiocese, by Andama’s intervention, “had the opportunity to stop, prohibit or dissuade” Burak from driving while he was impaired.
The archdiocese said that this alleged passive conduct is a far cry from the “substantial assistance or encouragement” required for the imposition of in-concert liability.
There are no allegations that Burak was visibly impaired at the party, or that the archdiocese encouraged Burak to drive while he was impaired, the archdiocese said in its filing. Regarding any possible collusion, the archdiocese argued that there were no allegations that “when the Archdiocese allegedly assisted Burak in fleeing the scene of the accident, the Archdiocese knew” the priest had caused the accident.
The plaintiffs failed to show that the archdiocese, through Andmana, was acting in-concert with Burak when he allegedly left the scene, the archdiocese said.
In her Jan. 10 ruling, Durkin sided with archdiocese regarding the civil conspiracy and in-concert liability accusations.
For Andama to have participated in a civil conspiracy on behalf of the archdiocese, he would have had to participate knowingly in a common scheme, but that no facts had been plead that showed Andama was aware Burak had hit the two women, Durkin wrote.
The judge said the arguments by the plaintiffs were “factually deficient” in showing a conspiracy and ruled in favor of archdiocese, but gave the plaintiffs the opportunity to firm up their arguments in amended complaints.
Orland Park police have said that Burak was driving his Buick Regal shortly after 8 p.m. after the holiday party at Square Celt when he hit Leja and Kosteck, who were walking to their cars.
Burak was charged with leaving the scene of an accident involving death and leaving the scene of an accident involving injury.
Burak assured other partygoers that he was OK to drive home after they expressed concern, according to Cook County prosecutors. After striking the women, according to authorities, he drove his Buick Regal down an access road and pulled into the drive-through lane of a restaurant, but did not order anything, before returning a short time later to the parking lot of the Square Celt. At that point, police officers, paramedics and other emergency personnel were on scene, but Burak did not tell anyone he had hit the women, authorities said. He was driven home by another St. Michael priest.
Burak told investigators that he had a Manhattan and a glass of wine at the party and blacked out for much of the night after being driven home, prosecutors said. Burak initially told investigators that he didn’t know he had hit anyone and believed he had struck a parking block as he was trying to leave Square Celt.
In their amended complaints, attorneys for the teachers allege Andama went outside the Square Celt after he and others who were at the gathering learned there had been an accident.
Andama saw Burak in the driver’s seat of his car and that emergency vehicles that responded were blocking exits, and he witnessed Burak hit a parked car while making a three-point turn, according to the lawsuits.
The lawsuits allege Andama knew at the time Burak had hit the women and offered to drive Burak to his home, an offer Burak initially resisted but accepted after Andama pressed the matter.
Burak sat in the back seat of the Buick while Andama drove, but Burak was unable to recall his address or direct Andama, but Andama was able to get the address from documents inside the car, according to the lawsuits.