In Illinois, a corporation is a legal entity that exists separate and apart from its shareholders, officers and directors. In fact, a major purpose of incorporating is to insulate yourself from personal liability. This liability-reducing function of corporations does have its limits though. If someone is abusing the corporate form, a court can disregard the …
Author Archives: PaulP
Like Pulling Teeth: The Struggles of Collecting Judgments from Corporate Debtors
As someone who does some collection work, I experience first-hand how difficult it is to collect on judgments – especially from small corporate debtors. A 2011 Second District case illustrates in stark relief just how challenging and frustrating enforcing a judgment can be. In Conserv v. Von Bergen Trucking, 2011 IL App (2d) 101225U (2011), the Court …
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The Ubiquitous “Excess Rent” Provision
The boilerplate “excess rent” or “rent differential” clause appears in many commercial leases. Usually buried in a voluminous lease, no one pays much attention to it until the tenant vacates and the landlord sues for damages. All of a sudden, the excess rent clause assumes critical importance as the landlord tries to prove up its damages. The rent differential/excess …