BELLEVILLE – Accountant Mark Diak, facing a claim that he exposed C.J. Baricevic and Grey Chatham Jr. to tax penalties and fines, denies that he worked for them.
In answer to their complaint on May 13, attorney Garth Madison of Chicago admitted only that Diak prepared tax returns for Grey Chatham Sr. for many years.
He wrote that Diak prepared Chatham Sr.’s return for 2015, and that Diak discussed preparing Chatham’s personal returns for 2016, but Chatham failed to provide sufficient information despite repeated requests.
“As a result, defendant informed Mr. Chatham that he would be unable to complete this return,” Madison wrote.
Baricevic, Chatham Jr., and their firm sued Diak in the court of miscellaneous remedy last December.
They sought an order for production of records and an order finding a breach of fiduciary duties.
Diak produced the records and moved to dismiss the claim for fiduciary duty.
He demanded a jury trial, an unusual step in a miscellaneous remedy action.
Madison argued for him that Chatham and Baricevic sought to establish an element of malpractice without filing a malpractice suit.
Chatham and Baricevic moved to strike the jury demand.
In February, Associate Judge Julie Katz gave them 28 days to amend the complaint.
At a hearing in April, Chatham Sr. said he would stand by the complaint.
Katz denied Diak’s motion to dismiss it, saying she saw in the allegations all the elements of a breach of fiduciary duty.
Madison asked her to deny the motion to strike the jury demand, and she struck it.
In answer to the complaint, Diak denied having any duty to plaintiffs.
Madison wrote that Diak denied having necessary records to prepare Chatham Sr.’s return for 2016.
He wrote that after Diak informed Chatham Sr. that he hadn’t provided enough information for 2016, Chatham Sr. indicated he retained another accountant.
“However, that accountant never contacted defendant,” Madison wrote.
He wrote that Diak denied that any records in his possession related to compliance or lack of compliance with Illinois and federal revenue laws.
On an allegation that plaintiffs placed a high degree of trust in Diak, he wrote that Diak lacked sufficient information to form a belief as to the truth of it.
He repeated those words for an allegation that they relied heavily on Diak’s advice.
He wrote that Diak denied having any duty to plaintiffs.
“As to plaintiff Grey Chatham Sr., defendant denies that he had a duty to file any documents with the applicable revenue authorities, as the duty to file tax returns falls on the taxpayer,” he wrote.
Katz plans a hearing July 16.