A U.S. District Court judge has ordered Calumet City to pay almost $12,000 for violating a preliminary injunction during an ongoing lawsuit with a group of real estate agents.

In 2006, a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction prohibiting Calumet City from requiring point-of-sale inspections before issuing transfer stamps for real estate sales and from ordering property deconversions -- or reducing the number of apartments in a multiunit building.

In March, the judge ruled the city violated the injunction regarding a property at 514 Forsythe Ave. and ordered Calumet City to compensate the sellers and brokers. He reaffirmed his decision in a June status hearing and ordered the city to pay $5,970 to each of the two brokerages involved.

The city told the property owner he had to deconvert his property from a multiunit building before he could get a transfer stamp for the sale, even though a judge had issued a preliminary injunction prohibiting Calumet City from requiring point-of-sale inspections before issuing transfer stamps, said Tom Joseph, the government affairs director for the Main Street Organization of Realtors.

Calumet City attorney Mark Sterk said he believed the incident happened before the preliminary injunction.

"The brokers alleged that they were due a commission in connection with the sale of the property and the sale failed solely because of the city's enforcement of its point-of-sale inspection ordinance," Sterk said. "While we respectfully disagree with the court's decision, we intend to appeal that ruling.

"The Realtors claim that the cancelation of the closing was caused by the city's enforcement of the city's point-of-sale inspection ordinance. We don't know whether that's the case because the court did not conduct an evidentiary hearing, (and) merely accepted the Realtors at their word."

The Realtor Association of West-South Suburban Chicagoland, now known as the Main Street Organization of Realtors, filed suit last year against Calumet City over its point-of-sale ordinance. The real estate agents claim the city-run inspections harm sellers, especially when issuing a transfer stamp -- necessary for the transaction -- is tied to completing city-required improvements.

The June decision reaffirming that the city must pay the brokers for violating the preliminary injunction is a good development and bodes well for the larger, ongoing lawsuit, Joseph said.

"What it demonstrates is closing and property transfers can't be obstructed and there is a limitation to interfering with the private marketplace and people have a right to close on their property and sell their property," he said. "The free market process has to be able to go forward."