Sister Found Not Guilty of Battery in Physical Battle over Thermostat

The battle over the thermostat setting in their home that led to a physical altercation between sisters ended Monday with a judge's verdict that Ilona Sales was not guilty of battering sister Wanda Lupina.

Lupina was accused of attacking her sister in December after the two repeatedly turned the heat up and down in the Plainfield house they share, according to a story in the Chicago Tribune. Sales countered that the fight was not premeditated and simply erupted.

In the end, Will County Judge Brian Barrett said he couldn't tell which of the sisters was first to attack over whether the thermostat should be set at 67 degrees or 68, the article said.

"Both of them seemed ready to settle the issue in front of the thermostat," he said. "I hope this is the last blowup."

The sisters have shared the house for about three years. Lupina moved into Sales' home and agreed to pay off the $31,000 remaining on the mortgage in exchange for shared ownership, the story said.

Sales testified that she turned up the thermostat to 68 when she returned home from work because it seemed "chilly." Lupina said she heard the furnace come on while she was in her upstairs bedroom and went down to return it to 67, the paper reported.

"It was too warm," Lupina testified. "I spent most of the time in my room — I'd asked her to put on additional layers of clothing. I closed the vents in my room. ... This is my home as well — I have a right to be comfortable here."

Sales was in the kitchen at the time and went back to the thermostat to push it back to 68, the Tribune reported. Lupina said she became angry when she heard the furnace start again.

"Leave that (expletive) thermostat alone," Lupina reportedly said, according to Sales.

Lupina testified that Sales was sitting on the couch when she came downstairs. She said Sales jumped up, walked over and twice shoved her away from the thermostat before throwing a punch that gave her a black eye, the newspaper reported.

"I was in shock," Lupina said.

But Sales testified that Lupina was standing in front of the thermostat when she tried to change it back to 68, according to the article. The fight began after Lupina shoved her, Sales said.

"Nothing I did pleased her — I couldn't do anything right in her eyes," Sales said.

While the criminal case has been resolved, a civil lawsuit in which Sales is asking that the money she used to pay off the mortgage be returned is still pending.