MORGANTOWN — Mitch Brozik, former owner of former Morgantown security firm Secure US, has suffered another loss in his years-long litigation against his aunt, Betty Parmer of Harrisburg, Pa. This tie, it was an appeal to the state Supreme Court
On Wednesday, the Supreme Court upheld a May 28 Monongalia County Circuit Court ruling that Brozik’s ex-wife turn over items of Brozik’s personal property in her possession to the court to partially satisfy a judgment Parmer won against Brozik, and that Brozik’s divorce attorney pay Parmer $5,000 that had been held in the attorney’s client trust account.
The Parmer-Brozik suit was one of a complex web of related cases. This particular case began in September 2013 when Parmer, 77 at the time, sued Brozik, his company MB Security, and Clarksburg attorneys Thomas Kupec, his son Brandon Kupec, and Gregory Morgan. Parmer claimed she was fraudulently induced to buy the assets of Secure US , duped into signing over the company management to Brozik through MB Security, and denied access to her assets.
In December 2015, after a three-week trial, a jury awarded Parmer $1.7 million in damages. The jury determined that Brozik and MB Security breached fiduciary duty to Parmer and breached contract with her, and fraudulently induced her to make the transactions that led to the purchase of Secure US.
In November 2015, Lancaster, Pa.-based Select Security bought the assets of Secure US in a private sale. The sale took place to satisfy a prior California-based Security Alarm Financing Services’ $1.13 million lien against Brozik.
The Supreme Court affirmed the $1.7 million judgment in January 2017. In March, Brozik’s divorce was finalized.
Brozik and his ex-wife then reached an agreement to distribute assets. Part of the deal was that she return his personal property that was in their former home to him in exchange for $60,000, and provide him with an itemized list of the property. When they failed to keep the agreement, Mon Family Court order the house sold and proceeds split, but Brozik appealed to circuit court.
Circuit court ordered the ex to turn over the property to Brozik and Brozik’s attorney to give her $5,000 from the trust account.
Parmer attempted to intervene in that appeal to get the $5,000 and the property , but was denied. She then filed a motion to compel Brozik’s ex to turn over the property and the attorney to hand over the money.
The case took another twist when Brozik’s attorney told circuit court he had given Brozik’s ex the $5,000 from a third party as part of an arrangement for the third party to buy the Brozik home and let Brozik rent it.
So in May, circuit court ordered the ex to turn over the property to the court’s receiver to appraise and sell to help satisfy the Parmer judgment, and ordered the attorney to give Parmer the $5,000.
Brozik appealed the circuit court’s ruling and on Wednesday the court ruled against him in a memorandum decision, shooting down all of Brozik’s legal arguments (too full of legalese to explain).
Affirming the circuit court order, Brozik’s ex must turn over all of his personal property to the court receiver, and Brozik’s attorney must give Parmer the $5,000.
Unrelated to the Parmer case, in May 2014, Brozik pleaded guilty in federal court to one count of federal income tax evasion, more specifically, “obstructing and impeding the administration of the Internal Revenue Service.”
Court documents showed that Brozik used corporate funds for personal use in three manners: Through checks written to “cash”; through use of corporate credit cards for personal expenses; and holding an “off the books” account in the company’s name. The credit card use could not be exactly determined but amounted to six figures.
Following negotiations, Brozik was ordered to pay $124,915.51 in restitution, a $5,000 fine and $100 assessment. On January 19, 2016, he entered FCI Butner Low, a low security federal prison in North Carolina, and was released the following July 15.
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