Chicago-Style Pizza Unauthorized Practice Alleged

A New York attorney has been charged with unauthorized practice by the Illinois Administrator.

On July 1, 2005, Respondent leased an apartment from Dennis Martinek (“Martinek”) at 111 Groveland Avenue in Riverside, Illinois (“the Groveland apartment”). Shortly thereafter, Respondent informed Martinek that he was a New York attorney.

From February 5, 2008, to August 12, 2011, Martinek was an investor in a business, Politico, LLC d/b/a Vini’s of Lincoln Park, which operated a pizza restaurant, Vini’s Pizza, at 2429 N. Lincoln Avenue in Chicago (hereinafter, collectively “Vini’s”).

In August 2010, Martinek informed Respondent about a number of legal problems that Martinek had encountered in connection with Vini’s, including alleged fraud and mismanagement by the then-General Manager of the company, Rosendo Diaz (“Diaz”).

Between August 2010 and September 2010, Respondent and Martinek agreed that Respondent would represent Martinek and Vini’s in at least eight different legal matters. Those matters included:

a. a tax claim by the State of Illinois because Diaz had allegedly failed to pay sales tax on pizza sales at Vini’s;
b. a claim against Diaz related to his purported mismanagement of Vini’s;
c. the defense of four creditors’ claims against Vini’s for accounts receivable, including claims by:

i.   DePaul University;
ii.  S&S Heating and Cooling, Inc.;
iii. Ice Town Leasing;
iv. Sysco Chicago, Inc.

d. An eviction matter related to a 5-day notice that had been served on Vini’s on September 10, 2010 to vacate its business premises on Lincoln Avenue in Chicago;
e. An alleged banking error by Vini’s credit card processing company, First Merit Bank, wherein Vini’s had purportedly not been credited with $5,000 in pizza sales proceeds.

Between August 2010 and September 2010, Respondent and Martinek began negotiating as to the fees that Respondent would be paid for the legal work…but they did not enter into a specific agreement as to the amount of those fees at that time.

Between September 2010 and August 2011, Respondent provided legal advice and services to Martinek and Vini’s on the matters… During that period, Respondent corresponded with Vini’s creditors and their counsel, reviewed and analyzed documents related to the respective claims, performed legal research on those claims, drafted letters to creditors for Martinek’s signature, and advised Martinek as to how to proceed in each matter.

In or about July 2011, Respondent and Martinek agreed that Martinek would barter monthly rent payments from Respondent’s rental of the Groveland apartment by applying those amounts as payments toward Respondent’s legal fees for the matters…The monthly rental amounts were $1,000 from July 1, 2011 through July 1, 2012. For legal services that Respondent provided on Martinek’s behalf in 2011 and 2012, Martinek waived a total amount of $12,000 in rental payments.

It is further alleged that Martinek sued to evict him and that he and his spouse filed for bankruptcy.

He also allegedly failed to cooperate in the investigation. (Mike Frisch)