Legal Malpractice Claims: Elements and Damages: Illinois Case Snippets (2015)

Two First District cases – one published, the other not – decided some eight days apart in April 2015, provide good capsule summaries of the pleading and proof elements of a legal malpractice claim in Illinois, the nature and reach of the attorney-client relationship (“A-C Relationship”) and the universe of possible damages that a plaintiff …

Lost Profits and the ‘New Business Rule’ – A Case Snapshot

The Northern District of Illinois recently denied a foreign truck parts supplier’s claim for lost profits in a contract dispute involving an Illinois-based global truck manufacturer.  In doing so, the court expansively applied the “new business rule” to the plaintiff despite its forty-year history in the automotive parts industry. In Clutch v. Navistar, 2015 WL …

Lost Profits and the ‘New Business Rule’ – A Short and Sweet One

Aside from delving into some unique issues that crop up in corporate guaranty suits, Williamson Co. v. Ill-Eagle Enterprises, Ltd., 2015 WL 802250, the case I featured yesterday (http://paulporvaznik.com/business-compulsion-duress-and-guaranties-signed-after-the-underlying-contract/7667) also provides some lost profits essentials adapted to a new(ish) business relationship. In the case, the home decor designer who vends to large retailers (think Bed Bath …