Boarded Up
An Illinois Hearing Board found that an attorney had defaulted on disciplinary charges and recommended a one-year suspension.
The allegations deemed admitted establish as follows:
In 2019 and 2020, Respondent represented his wife and himself in litigation brought against them in Will County Circuit Court in connection with property they owned in Naperville. Respondent made false statements in a motion to dismiss the complaint, in his signed affidavit attached to the motion to dismiss, and in an interlocutory appeal. Based upon these false statements, Respondent was charged with and pled guilty to two counts of indirect criminal contempt.
In January 2021, Respondent changed his attorney registration status to retired. In May 2021, acting as attorney for the Terry L. Gaca Trust (“Gaca Trust”), Respondent filed a slander of title lawsuit in DuPage County Circuit Court against the plaintiff in the Will County lawsuit. The DuPage County court sanctioned Respondent for filing frivolous pleadings. It also held him in minor direct criminal contempt for engaging in the unauthorized practice of law.
In July 2021, again on behalf of the Gaca Trust, Respondent filed another slander of title lawsuit, this time in Will County Circuit Court. In July through October 2021, Respondent filed pleadings and appeared in court in that matter, even after the court entered an order stating that the Gaca Trust “may appear in this action only through counsel authorized to practice law.” Respondent was charged with and pled guilty to three counts of indirect criminal contempt based on his unauthorized practice.
Patch reported on the underlying litigation
A Naperville man accused of illegally operating a boarding house faces fines and must close some of his properties after pleading guilty to criminal contempt and violating city codes, Chicago Tribune reports.
Several complaints had been filed against Terry Gaca over the span of five years, citing poor maintenance, noisy parties and “profanity-filled arguments,” according to Chicago Tribune. Gaca was accused of running boarding houses at the following locations:
- First block of Bailey Road
- 0-100 block of Bunting Lane
- 400 block of Carriage Hill Road
- 2400 block of Lisson Road
- 200 block of Pepperidge Road
As part of Gaca’s plea deal, he was ordered to serve 24 months probation and will be unable to lease properties in residential neighborhoods to three or more people who are not related to each other.
Gaca has also been ordered to pay $100,000 in court fees to Thomas Frederick, an attorney who lived near Gaca’s property on Lisson Road and initially filed the criminal contempt complaint. In total, Frederick is pursuing $1 million to cover damages and court costs.
In 2020, Gaca and a pair of tenants gave sworn statements that they were the only people living at the Lisson Road property. These statements were later disproven by Frederick, Chicago Tribune reports.
In addition to serving probation and paying Frederick, Gaca also faces more than $766,000 in fines for violating Naperville codes while he ran the illegal boarding houses.
(Mike Frisch)