VLM Food Trading International, Inc. v. Illinois Trading Co., (http://cases.justia.com/federal/appellate-courts/ca7/14-2776/14-2776-2016-01-21.pdf?ts=1453404644) considers whether a seller can recover attorneys’ fees where the contract doesn’t provide for fees but the invoices sent after the goods are shipped do have fee-shifting language. The Seventh Circuit held that the invoice fee-shifting clause does not bind the buyer. The Contract Chronology: The plaintiff foods seller would submit a …
Author Archives: PaulP
Material Changes to Office Lease Insulates Guarantor From Liability For Corporate Tenant Defaults – Illinois Court
The Illinois First District recently examined the reach of a corporate officer’s commercial lease guaranty in a case involving a multi-year and multi-suite office lease. The office landlord plaintiff in Stonegate Properties, Inc. v. Piccolo, 2016 IL App (1st) 150182, sued to hold a corporate tenant’s CEO and lease guarantor liable for rental damages after the corporate tenant …
False Info in Employee Time Records Can Support Common Law Fraud Claim – IL Fed Court
Some key questions the Court grapples with in Laba v. CTA, 2016 WL 147656 (N.D.Ill. 2016) are whether an employee who sleeps on the job or runs personal errands on company time opens himself up to a breach of fiduciary or fraud claim by his employer. The Court answered “no” (fiduciary duty claim) and “maybe” (fraud claim) in an employment …