Practice Area: Commercial Litigation

Jim Sipchen and Kelly Franklin obtained a dismissal of a lawsuit brought in Grundy County, Illinois alleging that the owner and investors in a 30-acre combined-cycle energy generating facility were liable for failure to pay for hundreds of thousands of dollars in transportation costs allegedly incurred in delivery of materials to the site during construction.  …

Robert Chemers and Rich Burgland won a summary judgment for a professional liability insurer that it had no duty to defend its insured personal injury attorney who along with his employee, who had been an officer of an existing business, allegedly surreptitiously obtained confidential information and trade secrets from the existing business which they used …

Robert Chemers and Matt Ligda obtained a dismissal with prejudice, after motion, extensive briefing and hearing, of a Supreme Court Rule 224 pre-suit petition where it was shown that petitioner failed to state a viable cause of action and the discovery sought was not necessary.

Robert Chemers obtained a judgment for an insurer client in federal court in Chicago that the carrier had no duty to defend its insureds for an auto accident due to the auto exclusion in the CGL policy and that any duty to defend was discharged when the insureds failed to respond to the carrier’s written …

Robert Chemers and Dave Larson won a summary judgment in federal district court that their insurer client had no duty to defend the insured homeowners for an underlying suit seeking damages by a disgruntled neighbor, a senior partner in a Chicago Big Law firm, for their alleged maintenance of a nuisance, public and private, creation …

Robert Chemers and Dave Larson obtained a judgment for their insurer client in their federal court declaratory judgment action that the insurer had no duty to defend its insureds who were sued in Cook County in a 44 page multi-count complaint for defamation and other claims based on no bodily injury and no property damage, …

Aubrey Sudomier and Tom Draths recently defeated a claim involving a road rage incident. Through their factual development and aggressive advocacy, Aubrey and Tom established that their opponent’s apparent agency theory did not have a legal basis to proceed beyond its earliest stages.  Aubrey and Tom’s client was dismissed from the case.  

A $9,539,768.54 award obtained by Pretzel & Stouffer attorneys Edward Ruff and Michael Turiello was reaffirmed by the US Bankruptcy Court in Chicago. The sanction award, one of the largest in US history, was entered after a bench trial before Judge Timothy A. Barnes in 2018. Fidelity and Deposit Company of Maryland (“F&D”) was held in contempt in the …

John Scheid and Ryan Shupe recently assisted two corporate clients navigate personnel changes, including the negotiation of employee severance agreements, both peaceably and with a special effort to minimize any potential liability under applicable state and federal employment laws.  These results were obtained in close consultation with their clients regarding both liability exposure and fairness …

Pretzel & Stouffer trial lawyers Edward Ruff and Suzanne Crowley obtained summary judgment for their client, and firm appellate lawyer Scott Howie obtained affirmance of that judgment on appeal, in a recent case finding that the plaintiff, who had a traumatic amputation of his arm below the elbow while operating a lathe, had an exclusive …

  Jim Sipchen and Quinn Donnelly, recently secured affirmation of dismissal of a regional big box retailer from a lawsuit filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. The plaintiff alleged that the retailer, along with a developer and a local municipality, had interfered with a neighboring landowner’s ability to …