On June 15, Lavelle Law attorney Colleen Breems received the 2022 David C. Hilliard award by the Chicago Bar Association. This award recognizes her outstanding committee service as Chair of the Young Lawyers Section Family Law Committee.

In the final installment of our 3-part series on buying or selling a business, business experts discuss the closing process. Lavelle Law Managing Partner Ted McGinn, Bill Germanetti, Principal at Impact Business Coaching, Inc., and Dave Gronski, President, North Coast Capital Advisors, Ltd. discuss what takes place, who attends, and how to prepare.

It is improper for the IRS to continue to send demand letters seeking to collect liabilities that have been discharged in a bankruptcy. Failure to respect a discharge order can result in the IRS having to pay damages claims, including court costs, legal fees, and damages relating to the unlawful collection attempts. That is what happened in McAuliffe v. United States.

Traditionally, prejudgment interest was not awarded in tort cases. In Senate Bill 0072, the Illinois Legislature proposed a new amendment to 735 ILCS 5/2-1303, which governs prejudgment interest on judgments. Under the amendment, in all actions seeking damages for personal injury or wrongful death claims, whether the injury resulted from negligence, willful and wanton misconduct, intentional misconduct, or strict liability, a plaintiff would be able to recover prejudgment interest on the entire judgment amount (minus punitive damages, sanctions, and statutorily awarded attorneys’ fees and costs).

The amendment was recently challenged in litigation pending in the Law Division of the Circuit Court of Cook County. Read on for insight on why Judge Marcia Maras held the amendment’s award of prejudgment interest unconstitutional.

If you or someone you know has a loved one with special needs, you should consider a special needs trust. A special needs trust protects your loved one and allows you to provide assistance for them without disqualifying them for the government benefits they may be receiving. This legal document will give you peace of mind knowing that your loved one will be cared for, even when you are no longer around to do so.

A recent case from the First District of the Appellate Court of Illinois addressed the enforceability of continuing guaranties. Often, commercial lenders require personal guaranties from the principals of corporate or LLC borrowers, and such guaranties often take the form of continuing guaranties. A continuing guaranty is “a contract pursuant to which a person agrees to be a secondary obligor for all future obligations of the principal obligor to the obligee.” In other words, a continuing guaranty is a promise by the guarantor to be liable for future or successive loans from the lender to the borrower, not just one individual loan.

It is not uncommon for a minority shareholder to feel as though a company they own stock in is being managed in a way that is not in their best interest. Typical claims that minority shareholders often make against corporations include several years of failing to make profit distributions, lack of access to information, failure to hold an annual meeting of shareholders, or a failure to produce meeting minutes. Overall, minority shareholders often engage our firm when they feel as though they are either being ignored or effectively forced out of the operation of the business that they helped create with their investment and effort. Despite the inherent voting disadvantages of being a minority shareholder, there are certain protections in place to help minority shareholders protect their investments.