Dannen v. Scafidi

Decision Date10 August 1979
Docket NumberNo. 78-1237,78-1237
Citation75 Ill.App.3d 10,393 N.E.2d 1246,30 Ill.Dec. 899
Parties, 30 Ill.Dec. 899 Avrum H. DANNEN, Trustee of the Estate of Diamond Drywall Service, Inc., a bankrupt, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Jacqueline SCAFIDI, Defendant-Appellee.
CourtUnited States Appellate Court of Illinois
[30 Ill.Dec. 901] Hoffman & Davis, Chicago, for plaintiff-appellant; Sol A. Hoffman, John L. Leonard and Robert G. Higgins, Chicago, of counsel

Martin, Drucker, Karcazes & Duax, Ltd., Chicago, for defendant-appellee; Donald Martin, Chicago, of counsel.

SULLIVAN, Presiding Justice:

Avrum H. Dannen (plaintiff), as the trustee in bankruptcy of the Estate of Diamond Drywall Service, Inc. (Drywall), brought suit against Jacqueline Scafidi (defendant) for an accounting and declaration of a trust. At the close of the plaintiff's case, the trial court granted judgment in favor of defendant. On appeal, plaintiff presents the following issues for review: (1) whether the trial court erred (a) by accepting the defense of shareholder ratification where the acts allegedly ratified constituted a criminal and illegal scheme to avoid taxes, and (b) by requiring the trustee in bankruptcy to show that defendant harmed or intended to harm Drywall's creditors; and (2) whether the limitations period employed by the trial court was inapplicable to the instant case.

In Count I of his complaint, plaintiff alleged that after Drywall filed a voluntary petition for bankruptcy, he was duly appointed trustee in bankruptcy of its estate; that defendant is the surviving spouse and sole surviving joint tenant of Thomas N. Scafidi (decedent), who died on or about April 18, 1971; that the instant action is brought pursuant to the authority granted him as trustee under sections 11 and 23 of the Bankruptcy Act (11 U.S.C. §§ 29, 46 (1976)); that prior to his death, decedent as sole shareholder, member of the board of directors, and chief executive officer managed Drywall and was in exclusive control of its entire operation; that upon information and belief, defendant was also an officer of Drywall prior to the death of decedent; that thereafter, she succeeded to the ownership of all outstanding stock in Drywall, became its chief executive officer and exercised exclusive control of its operations; that subsequently, on November 17, 1972, she sold her entire interest in Drywall to Eric Wilson, a tradesman and employee of Drywall for several years prior thereto; that Wilson was skilled in the dry wall phase of the building and construction industry; but, with the exception of some office experience occurring immediately prior to such sale, he had no previous training or experience in business or finance; that despite his sustained efforts, Drywall's financial condition continued to deteriorate due to the lack of working capital precipitating the voluntary bankruptcy petition; that while under the direction of decedent, Drywall purchased a substantial quantity of its building materials and supplies from the Wille Building Materials Corporation (Wille) which, as a business practice, paid its customers a cash or trade discount of 2% Of gross billing; that from September 24, 1968, through April 2, 1971, Drywall purchased building materials from Wille for which it paid the gross invoice price and, per instructions of decedent, the discounts earned by Drywall were paid to him personally; that such discounts amounted to $102,802.22; that the discount checks were endorsed by decedent and most were also endorsed by defendant; that all or part of the proceeds of such checks were used by the Scafidis to purchase, finance and maintain real and personal property, including certain described parcels and other property as yet unknown to him; that defendant, upon the death of her husband, became the sole owner of such property; that she holds funds in the amount of $102,802.22 and income derived therefrom as a constructive trust for the benefit of Drywall's estate on grounds (a) that she acted in concert with decedent knowingly, wilfully and fraudulently in diverting such funds to their personal use and commingled them with their other property, and (b) that she, as an officer of Drywall, participated in such diversions from September 24, 1968, through April 2, 1971, and thereby breached her fiduciary duty to the corporation and such breach is a continuing one as, upon attaining the status of sole shareholder and chief executive officer, she continued to retain Count II reasserted the allegations in Count I relating to the diversion of Drywall funds and further alleged that the Scafidis had never repaid such funds. On this basis, Dannen sought judgment in his favor of $102,802.22 plus interest and costs.

[30 Ill.Dec. 902] such funds; and that he has no adequate remedy at law. The relief sought on the basis of the allegations of Count I was an accounting, a declaration of a trust, and entry of judgment for $102,802.22 together with all property real and personal, benefits, emoluments, profits and income derived therefrom. Attorneys' fees and costs were also sought.

In her answer, defendant generally denied the allegations of the complaint but admitted that prior to his death, decedent was the sole shareholder and chief executive officer of Drywall; that she endorsed many of the Wille checks but had no information that such funds were not returned in whole or in part to Drywall; that she was an officer of Drywall from September 24, 1968 through April 2, 1971; that upon her husband's death, she became the sole owner of Drywall; and that she sold all of her stock to Wilson on November 17, 1972. Moreover, she alleged on information and belief that Wilson employed an independent accountant to review Drywall's books prior to acquiring the corporation.

She then asserted a number of affirmative defenses, pertinent of which are (1) that having paid two Drywall notes in the amount of $53,584.44 and having loaned Drywall $68,000, she was entitled to a setoff; (2) that the limitations period for actions based upon fraud and conversion was five years (Ill.Rev.Stat.1977, ch. 83, par. 16) and that most of the Wille checks predated such period; and (3) that the personal use, if any, by the decedent of corporate funds did not operate as a breach of fiduciary duty to the stockholders or creditors of Drywall.

Prior to trial, defendant admitted the genuineness of the endorsements of her husband and herself which appeared on the Wille checks drawn to the order of decedent. Such checks amounted to $8,745.90 in 1968; $58,804.88 in 1969; $28,631.38 in 1970; and $46,582.06 in 1971.

From the testimony adduced, it appears that these checks represented trade discounts earned by ordering material in large volume and cash discounts earned by payment for material within 30 to 45 days of its delivery. As Drywall was responsible for a million dollars of Wille's business per year and often generated in excess of $100,000 business monthly, Wille was willing to honor decedent's request that the discount checks owing to Drywall be drawn to his personal order. While decedent was alive, Drywall's account with Wille was current and, after Wilson took control of Drywall, the discounts were subtracted from the gross invoice amount so that Drywall paid only the net amount of each invoice. About one year after decedent's death, Wille demanded and received a note signed by defendant, Wilson and other corporate officers for $118,000 to guarantee the accounts receivable of Drywall.

Defendant, called as a section 60 witness, testified that she had been titular vice president of Drywall since June 1, 1968, and had endorsed the Wille checks per her husband's instructions. Such checks were customarily deposited in their joint checking account and her husband would later transfer the funds to their joint savings account, from which he paid Drywall's operating expenses. Sometimes, however, he ordered her to cash such checks and to tender the funds to him for the use of Drywall. Although she was free to spend the checking account funds for personal expenses, she was not allowed to make withdrawals from their savings account absent his express direction to do so. Moreover, decedent had constant custody of the savings passbook and usually kept it in his desk at the Drywall offices. She and her husband arranged a $25,000 personal loan, using a Drywall account as collateral. In addition, a $25,000 investment in a partnership (which interest was jointly owned by the Scafidis) and a $5,000 capital contribution to another corporation (which was partially owned by the decedent) were obtained from the funds in their joint savings From the testimony of Eric Wilson, it appears that he was first...

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