Suit: Franchisor locked franschisee out of Chicago food mart

A DuPage County man is suing over claims he was locked out of the food mart he owned and was trying to sell.

Ashokkumar Ravulapati filed suit July 23 in Cook County Circuit Court against Abbas Dossaji.

According to the complaint, the plaintiff was the owner of a business that had a franchise agreement with the defendant, a franchisor, for the operation of a food mart at 5530 N. Milwaukee Ave. in Chicago. The agreement was dated July 9, 2001.

In January 2013, the plaintiff claims he was was in the process of selling the franchise to a third party, when the defendant changed the locks and prevented him from accessing his property.

Ravulapati is seeking damages for the foreseeable loss resulting from the defendant's conversion and fees. He is represented by Worth attorneys Fadi Y. Rafati and Howard L. Ward of Rafati, Ward & Associates PC.

Cook County Circuit Court Case No. 2014-L-007693

This is a report on a civil lawsuit filed in the Cook County Circuit Court. The details in this report come from an original complaint filed by a plaintiff. Please note, a complaint represents an accusation by a private individual, not the government. It is not an indication of guilt and it represents only one side of the story.