Dearborn Process Service, Inc. v. Storner (In Re Dearborn Process Service, Inc.)

149 B.R. 872, 1993 Bankr. LEXIS 127, 1993 WL 22188
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, N.D. Illinois
DecidedJanuary 22, 1993
Docket14-25939
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 149 B.R. 872 (Dearborn Process Service, Inc. v. Storner (In Re Dearborn Process Service, Inc.)) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Court, N.D. Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Dearborn Process Service, Inc. v. Storner (In Re Dearborn Process Service, Inc.), 149 B.R. 872, 1993 Bankr. LEXIS 127, 1993 WL 22188 (Ill. 1993).

Opinion

PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION

JACK B. SCHMETTERER, Bankruptcy Judge.

This cause was heard on Motion of Plaintiff Dearborn Process Service, Inc. for preliminary injunction and other relief. Following an emergency hearing held on notice, this Court entered a Preliminary Injunction on October 27, 1992, nunc pro tunc the date of hearing and ruling October 23, 1992. Final hearing on the application for Preliminary Injunction was then set. Following completion of the full and final hearing thereon, the Court now makes and enters Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law, and Preliminary Injunction pendente lite:

FINDINGS OF FACT

1. On July 2, 1982, Dearborn Process Services, Inc. was incorporated under the law of the State of Illinois and assigned Illinois corporation number D-5278-584-7. This corporation was involuntarily dissolved on December 27, 1985 by the Illinois Secretary of State for failure to pay franchise taxes.

2. The shareholders of the dissolved corporation were Richard Walsh (“Walsh”) and Linda J. Stomer (“Stomer”).

3. From November 1986 through August 22,1991, Walsh and Stomer still operated under the name of “Dearborn Process Service, Inc.”, and held the business out as a corporation under federal employer identification number 36-3186724.

4. On August 22, 1991, Walsh and Stor-ner incorporated Dearborn Process Service, Inc., the Plaintiff (“Debtor”) herein, under the laws of the State of Illinois, which was assigned Illinois corporation number D-5650-765-5. The Debtor obtained a new IRS tax number: 36-3840999.

5. During all the times that Debtor was incorporated, Walsh and Stomer were and are the sole shareholders of the Debtor, each holding 50% of the common stock therein.

6. The Debtor was at all times mentioned and is engaged in the business of serving judicial process, making court filings, and obtaining document retrievals, primarily on behalf of many agencies and law firms. During 1991 and 1992, its principal place of business was located at 100 West Monroe Street, Suite 501, Chicago, Illinois. Storner managed the business day-to-day from that location. During *875 those years, the Debtor maintained and still maintains a Post Office Box Number A3693, which it has used in its business operations and published to third parties for such use.

7. Walsh is the duly authorized president and a director of the Debtor.

8. Until Storner’s resignation, announced in open court on November 10, 1992, effective November 12,1992, she was Secretary-Treasurer and a director of the Debtor. Until the latter date, Stomer and Walsh were the only directors.

9. At all times when Debtor was incorporated until mid-October of 1992, Stomer was the manager of the Debtor’s business operations.

10. As directors, officers, and sole shareholders of the Debtor, a closely held corporation, Storner and Walsh each had until November 12, 1992 a confidential and fiduciary relationship with the Debtor.

11. The Debtor owned a corporate checking account, account number 486388, at the Northern Trust Company under federal employer identification number 36-3186724.

12. Prior to September 20, 1992, the Debtor had two business accounts in its name with Illinois Bell Telephone Company. The business telephone number of the first account was (312) 987-0900. The business telephone numbers of the second account were and are (312) 609-0600 and 609-0059. The latter account was established in August of 1988. Billing statements for the two business telephone accounts were in the name of and mailed to the Debtor prior to September 30, 1992.

13. On or about August 1,1992, Stomer and her daughter, the defendant Elizabeth Storner, developed and engaged in a plan to take away the business of Debtor for their own use and benefit. In furtherance of that plan, they seized records of the Debtor; contacted its customers; engaged in and conducted, under another but deceptively similar name (“Dearborn Process Servers”), the business of serving judicial process, court filings, and documents retrievals; engaged in the deceptive practice of using the name of “Dearborn Process Servers, Inc.”, headquartered at 100 West Monroe Street, Suite 501, Chicago, Illinois; and interfered with and diverted the business of Debtor to the defendant Dearborn Process Servers, Inc.

14. On August 20, 1992, Stomer, as in-corporator, prepared Articles of Incorporation for Dearborn Process Servers, Inc. Those Articles were filed by her with the Illinois Secretary of State on September 15, 1992.

15. Dearborn Process Servers, Inc., also known as Dearborn Process Servers (“Dearborn Process Servers, Inc.”), is an Illinois corporation, whose stock is wholly owned and whose business is wholly controlled by Stomer and her daughter, defendant Elizabeth Storner. It has its principal place of business at 100 West Monroe Street, Suite 501, Chicago, Illinois, in the office of the Debtor.

16. On or about September 16,1992, the Storners prepared and submitted a federal Application for Employer Identification Number in the name of Dearborn Process Servers, Inc. The Application admitted that the business started on August 1, 1992.

17. Elizabeth Storner, Linda J. Storner, and Dearborn Process Servers, Inc. a/k/a Dearborn Process Servers (collectively, the “Defendants”), prior to entry of the emergency Preliminary Injunction entered herein on October 27, 1992, were engaged in and conducting business under the name of Dearborn Process Servers, Inc., headquartered at 100 West Monroe Street, Suite 501, Chicago, Illinois, the same office as that of the Debtor.

18. The business in which the Defendants were engaged prior to October 27, 1992 was the serving of judicial process, court filings, and document retrievals, the same business as that of the Debtor; and that business serviced many of the same customers as did the Debtor.

19. On August 31, 1992, acting as Secretary-Treasurer of the Debtor, Storner completed and submitted a federal Application for Employer Identification Number *876 Form SS-4, and was assigned a second federal employer identification number, # 36-3840999.

20. On September 1, 1992, Stomer, on the Debtor’s letterhead, faxed a letter to Ms. Ann Kenerson, Northern Trust Company, regarding account number 486388, and directing Northern Trust Company to change its records to reflect Debtor’s new tax identification number as 36-3840999.

21. During September of 1992, Defendants removed some of the Debtor’s books and records from the Debtor’s principal place of business and had the locks on the doors changed.

22. On September 23, 1992, Stomer requested of Illinois Bell a change in service, transferring Dearborn Process’ telephone numbers (312) 609-0600 and 609-0059 to the name of Dearborn Process Servers, Inc., directing bills to be sent to Dearborn Process Servers, Inc., attn: Linda Storner, 100 West Monroe Street, Suite 501, Chicago, Illinois 60603, changing 411 information, and adding a third line to the account (312-609-0202).

23. On September 25, 1992, Storner transmitted a copy of Dearborn Process Servers, Inc.’s Articles of Incorporation to Illinois Bell.

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Bluebook (online)
149 B.R. 872, 1993 Bankr. LEXIS 127, 1993 WL 22188, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dearborn-process-service-inc-v-storner-in-re-dearborn-process-service-ilnb-1993.