Illinois Business Legal Questions

I do not understand your question? Are you questioning the hours your company says you worked? Does your employer count your hours based on when you leave home in the morning and when you arrive home in the evening? If your company bases your hours on when you arrive at the job site and leave the job site, it would not matter. How would the GPS records determine hours? I am not sure why you would need a lawyer to request that information. I am not sure why you need to request it from the company. You could determine the distance from home to job site on Google maps. If you want a specific answer, you need to provide more information and explain that the issue is.... Read More

The terms of the plan determine your eligibility, not what the employer says or promises orally. You are entitled to the return of your erroneous contributions, which it seems you are about to receive. You may have an argument that you should be paid interest on your money that was wrongfully detained. You are not entitled to participate in the plan. These matters should be discussed with an attorney.... Read More

As a general matter, the length of time a customer might have to make a claim would depend on the statute of limitations applicable to the claim. In the absence of a contract term limiting the limitations period to something shorter (which you can do), the contract statute of limitations in Illinois is ten years. That means that a customer would have 10 years to bring a claim against you based on your breach of the contract. A shorter limitation period might apply to a claim that a customer suffered a personal injury as a result of your rental of a defective boat. That would be a negligence claim, for which the limitation period is two years. Thus, you would want to retain your contracts containing the liability waiver for a period of at least two years. You can retain the documents in electronic form.... Read More

Normally, an owner shareholder is not liable for corporate debt while a shareholder, and also not after transfer of shares. However, a lawyer would want to interview the client, learn of all existing debt on the date of transfer, all contracts in existence, etc. This is analysis, not legal advice.... Read More

If your question is whether the LLC can institute suit against its disloyal member, the answer is "yes." However, since both members have an equal interest in the LLC, it may be difficult for you member to overcome a defense by the defendant that the lawsuit was unauthorized by a majority of the members. Different states take different approaches to derivative actions by LLCs. You will want to discuss this matter directly with an attorney.... Read More

I understand that you will self-publish or "vanity" publish this work, rather than through trade channels. This distinction matters because all major commercial trade publishers vet their works and have legal staffs that are designed to make sure that these kinds of issues are dealt with. It is difficult, without a review of the book, to anticipate the kinds of issues that you may face. Generally speaking, the greatest risk you face in any non-fiction work is a libel claim. Related issues are "false light" claims. One person's funny anecdote breeds another person's blood feud. Even under the most innocent of circumstances, it is difficult to predict how others may react to having their foibles exposed. The prophylactic measures that professional publishers use are equally available to you. First, have the book reviewed by an outside professional. Second, check your insurance and see to what extent it covers defamation and "advertising injury" claims; if you don't have such coverage, get it. We practice in this area and would be happy to be helpful to you. Let us know if there's anything you want us to do.  ... Read More

In the absence of a written employment agreement or its equivalent, employment in the United States is on an "at will" basis. That means that the employer may unilaterally change the terms of employment at any time for any reason or no reason at all. This may not be fair, but the employee's remedy is to seek other employment.... Read More

Let us suppose for the sake of argument that this is the worst possible crime you can imagine -- larceny, embezzlement, fraud, whatever. How does that help you? It's only beneficial to you if your ex-parnter actually has money and if the threat of criminal prosecution will cause him to pay the money to discharge these debts. My guess -- and probably yours, too -- is that he doesn't have any money. So you may perhaps enjoy the satisfaction of seeing him rot in jail, but that's likely what you'll get out of it. Is there some other aspect of this that I am missing?... Read More

This is a fact pattern that every law-school student studies in the first year. The question is whether the advertisement is an "offer" that a would-be purchaser has the power to "accept." In general, courts have ruled that the advertisement is merely an invitation to dicker and not an "offer." This makes sense, insofar as advertisements go through a lot of hands and errors are not uncommon.... Read More

It is impossible to answer your question in the manner in which it is phrased. Whether you should sue or not depends on other factors you do not set forth, such as whether there is a likelihood of confusion between your services and those of the airline, whether the airline has a registered trademark or other rights in the mark, etc. If you would like to discuss this matter on a professional basis, please call my office during business hours at (203) 399-1320.... Read More

The rights of members (or former members) of an LLC are determined by the LLC's operating agreement. What does the operating agreement say? Alternatively, he may have rights under the terms of the agreement by which his membership interest was acquired when he "stepped down." What does that agreement say? As a general matter, the "organizer" of an LLC has no rights -- but this result could be varied by agreement.... Read More