Gasunas v. Yotis (In re Yotis)

521 B.R. 625
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, N.D. Illinois
DecidedNovember 24, 2014
DocketBankruptcy No. 14-bk-2689; Adversary No. 14-ap-321
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 521 B.R. 625 (Gasunas v. Yotis (In re Yotis)) 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
Gasunas v. Yotis (In re Yotis), 521 B.R. 625 (Ill. 2014).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION ON YOTIS’S MOTION TO DISMISS

JACK B. SCHMETTERER, Bankruptcy Judge.

This Adversary Proceeding relates to the bankruptcy petition filed by the debt- or-defendant William W. Yotis III (“Yo-tis”), a former attorney, under Chapter 13 of the Bankruptcy Code. Creditor-plaintiff Anthony C. Gasunas (“Gasunas”) filed his First Amended Complaint to determine the dischargeability of debt under 11 U.S.C. § 523 and to object to Debtor’s discharge under 11 U.S.C. § 727. In short, Gasunas alleges that Yotis conned him out of'about $50,000 by engaging in a series of lies from May 2009 to July 2010. Yotis moved to dismiss the Amended Complaint for failure to state a claim under [630]*630Rule 12(b)(6), F.R.C.P., Rule 7012 F.R. Bankr.P. Yotis also argues that Counts III and IV should be dismissed as these Counts are legally inapplicable to him.

BACKGROUND

Gasunas’s First Amended Complaint provides greater detail to the factual allegations of the Original Complaint. Gasu-nas alleges a series of transactions between the two parties which Gasunas claims to be fraudulent. The transactions took place over the course of about a year, dating from May 20, 2009 through July of 2010. Based on Gasunas’s Amended Complaint these allegations include:

1. Yotis repeatedly claimed to be “on the straight and narrow,” a “straight shooter,” and generally reformed from his earlier schemes, despite his continuing to scheme and deceive. (Amended Complaint ¶ 12).

2. Yotis failed to disclose that he had been under investigation by the Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission for allegedly misappropriating funds during his time as an attorney. (Amended ¶ 14).

8. Yotis failed to disclose that he was sued by the Illinois Attorney General for fraudulent and/or deceptive business practices in connection with a construction business that Yotis entered into following his disbarment as an attorney. (Amended ¶ 32).

4.Yotis said he was visiting his sister in a psychiatric ward at night, when really he was compelled to spend nights in jail as part of a work release program. Gasunas alleges that this incarceration resulted from Yotis being arrested for possession of a controlled substance, which violated the terms of some earlier condition required for his release. (Amended ¶ 32)

5. On May 20, 2009, Yotis asked Gasu-nas to loan him $2,065.60 to secure the release of his car from the City of Chicago impound lot so that he could pick up his father from the airport. Gasunas provided the money, but was never paid back. (Amended ¶¶ 17-19).

6. In the summer of 2009, Yotis and Gasunas entered into a venture to purchase U2 concert tickets at a significantly discounted price and then resell them for face value. Yotis promised that both he and Gasunas would share the profits evenly. Gasunas gave $2,500 to Yotis in order to fund this venture. Yotis then allegedly bought and resold the tickets but never repaid Gasunas on this account. (Amended ¶¶ 20-23)

7. In late 2009 or early 2010, Yotis informed Gasunas that he had actually traded the U2 tickets for four Super Bowl tickets which Yotis claimed would net them a higher profit. Yotis then delayed paying Gasunas his share of profits from the Super Bowl tickets by claiming there were scheduling conflicts between Yotis and the broker that prevented Yotis from being paid for those tickets. Gasunas alleges that on one occasion, Yotis told Gasu-nas to meet Yotis and the ticket broker at the ticket broker’s office in Wheaton, Illinois. Neither Yotis nor the ticket broker arrived. After Gasunas waited for two hours, Yotis called Gasunas informing him that the ticket broker could not meet with them. Gasunas never met the ticket broker. Ultimately, Gasunas learned that profits from Super Bowl tickets, approximately $10,000, were used to pay a repair bill on Yotis’s BMW. (Amended ¶¶ 24-29).

8. Between May 2009 and July 2010, Yotis made a series of requests to Gasunas for cash loans. (Amended ¶ 30).

9. On June 24, 2010, Gasunas loaned Yotis $8,940.00 in order to pay off his overdue mortgage bill. This appears to be [631]*631the same transaction that was alleged in the Original Complaint, which resulted in the execution of a promissory note. (Amended ¶¶ 34-37). The promissory note itself stated that Gasunas had previously loaned Yotis $40,845.00 and that the parties “agree to terminate and cancel all prior notes and this note shall represent the total amount due Tony Gasunas from Bill Yotis.” (Amended Exhibit B).

10. In order to induce Gasunas to loan money, Yotis said that his wife and daughter would leave him if he was unable to maintain mortgage payments on their home. He also said that if Gasunas would loan Yotis the money for mortgage payments then they will be “friends for life” and that Yotis “does not screw (sic) over his friends.” (Amended ¶¶ 39-40).

11. On July 7, 2010 Yotis executed another promissory note borrowing an additional $2,500.00 and promised not to borrow again. (Amended Exhibit B). However, Gasunas alleged that Yotis later borrowed an additional $400 in order to travel to Detroit to negotiate the sale of the art work and comic collection that was pledged as collateral for the June 24, 2010 Note in order to repay the note. That deal fell through and Gasunas was never repaid. (Amended ¶ 42).

12. Yotis showed Gasunas correspondences indicating that Yotis would be paid for construction work and thereby induced Gasunas to loan more money. (Amended ¶ 35).

13. In August of 2010, Yotis used Ga-sunas’s mailing address to solicit employment offers to which address Gasunas received two rejection letters addressed to Yotis. (Amended ¶ 43).

In total, Gasunas alleges that there were fifteen transactions, including those listed above, between him and Yotis between May of 2009 and July of 2010. (Amended ¶ 34). Gasunas alleges that during this time Yotis had used fraudulent misrepresentations and omissions that were specified to induce him to lend money. In order to make the loans to Yotis, Gasunas had to take out cash advances from his credit cards and home equity line of credit. (Amended ¶ 34). In total, Gasunas alleges that he loaned a total of $52,345.00, not including any interest and fees. Prior to the filing of this case, on April 25, 2012, Gasunas was awarded a state court judgment against Yotis for that amount plus statutory interest. (Amended ¶ 65).

DISCUSSION

J URISDICTION

Subject matter jurisdiction lies under 28 U.S.C. § 1334. The district court may refer a proceeding to a bankruptcy judge under 28 U.S.C. § 157, and this proceeding is referred here by District Court Operating Procedure 15(a) of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. Venue lies under 28 U.S.C. § 1409. This is a core proceeding under 28 U.S.C. §§ 157(b)(2)(A), (I), (J), and (O).

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
521 B.R. 625, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gasunas-v-yotis-in-re-yotis-ilnb-2014.