Illegality Defense Doesn’t Defeat HVAC Subcontractor’s Damage Claim Versus General Contractor on Chicago Transit Authority Project (N.D. 2015)

I’ve written before on the illegality defense to breach of contract suits.  It’s bedrock contract law that an agreement to do something criminal (example – murder, arson, selling drugs, etc.) is unenforceable against the person who doesn’t perform (example: if I fail to pay a hit man, he can’t sue me for the $).  The illegality defense also applies in the civil …

Apparent Agency Questions Defeat Summary Judgment in Guaranty Dispute – IL ND

The Northern District of Illinois recently examined the nature of apparent agency liability in the context of a breach of guaranty dispute involving related limited liability companies (LLCs).  The plaintiff in Hepp v. Ultra Green Energy Services, LLC, 2015 WL 1952685 (N.D.Ill. 2015) sued to enforce a written guaranty signed by the defendant company in …

No Future Damages Allowed in Wage Payment and Collection Act Claim – IL 2d Dist.

Eakins v. Hanna Cylinders, LLC, 2015 IL App (2d) 140944 is the third in a trio of recent Illinois Wage Payment and Collection Act, 820 ILCS 115/1 et seq., (“Wage Act”) cases that address an employee’s rights to recover future damages after an employer prematurely terminates a multi-year contract. (The other two cases – Majmundar …