In Sasser v. State Farm Insurance Co., the Indiana appeals court addressed the contours of defamation law in the context of two statements that variously impugned an attorney’s physical appearance and professional abilities. The plaintiff, an in-house lawyer for the insurance giant defendant, had a years’ long personality clash with a non-attorney claims adjuster. The plaintiff alleged …
Author Archives: PaulP
Doctor’s Oral Promise to Retire in Future Not Enough To Sustain Healthcare Plaintiff’s Fraud Claims
In Heartland Women’s Healthcare, Ltd. v. Simonton-Smith, 2021 IL App (5th) 200135-U, the appeals court affirmed summary judgment for an obstetrician sued for fraud based on her alleged verbal promise to retire from her practice at the end of a three-year employment term. The plaintiff claimed the defendant tricked it into buying her practice by …
Lumber Exec’s Diversion of Profits to Company Owned by Son Supports Minority Shareholders’ Breach of Fiduciary Duty and Shareholder Oppression Claims – IL 2nd Dist.
Roberts v. Zimmerman, et al., 2021 IL App (2d) 191088-U provides a useful primer on the pleadings and evidence required to sustain a breach of fiduciary duty and shareholder oppression claim against a corporate officer and the contours of the business judgment rule defense to those claims. The case involved three separate but related lumber …