Company’s Fraud Suit Versus Rival’s Ex-CFO Defeated by Prior Arbitration Award: Illinois Res Judicata Basics

The privity element of the res judicata doctrine focuses on whether two parties to two separate lawsuits have legal interests that are so intertwined they should be treated as the same parties.  Privity is usually an easier question than the res judicata’s other well-settled components – whether the two cases stem from the same transaction and whether that first case was resolved via …

Seventh Circuit Files: Court Voids LLC Member’s Attempt to Pre-empt LLC’s Suit Against That Member

In Carhart v. Carhart – Halaska International, LLC, (http://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/ca7/14-2968/14-2968-2015-06-08.html) the plaintiff LLC member tried to shield himself from a lawsuit filed against him by the LLC by (1) taking an assignment of a third-party’s claim against the LLC; (2) getting and then registering a default judgment against the LLC; (3) seizing the LLC’s lone asset: its …

Plaintiff Loses Bid to Repossess Dog Gifted to Ex: Illinois Replevin, Personal Property and Gift Law Basics

Koerner v. Nielsen, 2014 IL App (1st) considers the parameters of an inter vivos gift (a gift made during a giver’s lifetime) as they pertain to the question of who owns a dog after the break-up of a romantic relationship. The plaintiff gave her then-boyfriend (the defendant) a dog (a Stig) for Christmas.  About fourteen …