A jury awarded Waukegan-based Atturo Tire Corp. a $110 million verdict for damages related to deceptive trade practices and tortious interference by a multinational competitor. After a five-day trial, a federal jury in the Northern District of Illinois in Chicago found Toyo Tire Corp. and Toyo USA Corp. liable for…
Ashad Umrani and Mundar Jatoi, the plaintiffs, brought a derivative action on behalf of Sindhi Association of North America (SANA) against SANA and several SANA office holders. They alleged misconduct and breach of fiduciary duties, fraud, and spoliation of evidence against SANA executive council members and other office holders. SANA…
The Illinois Supreme Court has reversed a lower court’s ruling in a case involving an alleged breach of fiduciary duty. In this case, the trial court first ruled that, although defendants had breached their fiduciary duties to the plaintiff, Indeck Energy Services, Indeck had failed to establish any usurpation of…
Michael Maschmeyer was the co-owner of Chicago Roof, Deck and Garden LLC (CRDG) with 42.5% of the interest in the company. Darren Flynn and Tomasz Bartosiewicz owned the remaining 57.5% interest in the company. Flynn and Maschmeyer had been partners for several landscaping and real estate development businesses in the…
Within a year of when Michael Booth signed an employment agreement that had a non- competition clause, he resigned as president of Axion RMS and then went to work for a competitor. It was also alleged that, after leaving Axion RMS, he started luring away former colleagues. Axion sued Booth…
Guitar Center sells musical instruments. It created a new brand of woodwind and brass instruments produced by Eastman known as “Ventus.” Barrington owns the trademark “Vento,” which is used in relation to instruments it sells. Barrington began using its mark in commerce in 2009 and achieved gross sales just under…
A December 2017 binding arbitration awarded unpaid sales representative commissions, punitive damages and attorney’s fees against Chicago medical device distributor MioMed Orthopaedics Inc. The circuit court judge in the case confirmed judgment against the company in the amount of $91,654.21, plus costs. The judgment was entered after Kreisman Law Offices’…
A new law in Illinois prohibits employers from entering into noncompete contracts with employees who earn $13 per hour or less. The Illinois Freedom to Work Act (Public Act 099-0860) became effective on Jan. 1, 2017. The law makes it illegal for an Illinois employer to enter into a “covenant…
The Illinois Appellate Court for the First District recently reviewed a case regarding the piercing of a corporate veil. Piercing the corporate veil is a practice in which a lawyer will prove that the corporation that would otherwise protect its shareowners from personal liability is really a façade or fiction…
The Illinois Appellate Court has affirmed a Cook County trial judge’s order regarding the effect of an attorney’s lien notice sent to a defendant’s attorneys rather than the defendant directly. Randy Brown was the owner and operator of a Harold’s Chicken Shack in suburban Broadview, Ill., until Jan. 15, 2009.…