Veil Piercing Money Judgment Survives Res Judicata Defense – Mich. Court

Piercing the corporate veil, as metaphorical phrase and very real remedy, applies when a shareholder abuses the corporate form to shield himself from liability to corporate creditors. A prototypical piercing scenario is where a sole shareholder so controls his company that it blurs the separation between shareholder and company and is unfair to protect the shareholder from personal liability for company …

Substantial Performance of Asset Purchase Agreement Wins the Day in Pancake House Spat

The Second District affirmed summary judgment for the plaintiff pancake house (“Restaurant”) seller in a breach of contract action against the Restaurant’s buyer and current operator.  Siding with the seller, the court discussed the contours of the substantial performance doctrine and what kind of evidence a plaintiff must supply to win summary judgment in a contract dispute. The …

Anticipatory Repudiation: Illinois Court Examines Doctrine in Real Estate Distpute

The home sellers’ failure to plead the buyers’ anticipatory repudiation of a real estate contract spelled defeat in Kelly v. Orrico, 2014 IL App (2d)  130002, a recent Second District case.  In Kelly, the plaintiffs and defendants – who happened to be friends and neighbors (they lived on the same street) – entered into a real estate contract for plaintiffs …