Religious Icon Removed from Condo

A condominium association adopted a rule forbidding the placement of any signs or symbols on doors or in hallways outside condominium units. When a Jewish resident placed a religious symbol on the doorpost of her unit, the association had it removed without her consent. The resident sued the association under the federal Fair Housing Act … Read more

Economic Loss Rule Bars Misrepresentation Claim

Where parties have entered into a contractual relationship and damage occurs occasioning merely economic losses, the economic loss rule bars the complaining party from asserting tort remedies and limits that person to the contract remedies that were bargained for and agreed upon. Economic losses are distinguished from physical harm or damage to property other than … Read more

No-Show Mover Must Make Mortgage Payments

A family hired a moving company to pack up their belongings in their home and move them to a new house in another state. The mover packed up everything, but failed to come back for the loading and moving. This was more than merely inconvenient, because the family’s sale of their old house was contingent … Read more

Website Terms of Use

The terms for using websites, often taking the form of legalese to which many users pay little attention, are more important than they are interesting to read. The terms restrict how the public can use a website to obtain information, purchase goods and services, or take part in web-based social networking. Largely because of the … Read more

Spring 2009 Report from Counsel now Available!

“Employers and Job References” informs readers about increasing litigation over job references (both negative and positive). “No-Show Mover Must Make Mortgage Payments” reviews recent decisions by courts regarding the application of the Carmack Amendment to the failure of a moving company to pick up belongings and damages caused. “Economic Loss Rule Bars Misrepresentation Claim” describes … Read more

Estate Planning: A Gift of Debt

If you inherit property, of course you should be grateful and count your blessings. Still, consider the possibility that the gift may come with a big string attached–a debt linked to the property, such as is particularly common with real estate or a car. In that event, the question arises as to whether the debt … Read more

Generation-Skipping Trusts

If you have heard of generation-skipping trusts (GSTs) at all, you probably think of them as a way for wealthy families to shield their fortune from estate taxes. That is true as far as it goes, but GSTs can also have benefits for the less well off by protecting assets from ex-spouses and creditors and … Read more

Age Discrimination in Employment

When the federal government required one of its defense contractors to reduce its workforce, the contractor first evaluated its employees based on the criteria of “performance,” “flexibility,” and “critical skills.” After adding points to scores for years of service, the employer arrived at a list of 31 employees to be laid off. On their face, … Read more

Winter 2008/2009 Report from Counsel

IMPORTANT NOTICE TO PERSONS DOMICILED IN ILLINOIS CONCERNING ILLINOIS ESTATE TAXES IMPOSED ON ESTATES OF PERSONS WHO DIE IN YEAR 2009: Illinois is “decoupling” from the year 2009 federal estate tax exclusion amount of $3,500,000. This may result in substantial Illinois estate taxes if your estate for tax purposes exceeds $2,000,000. We suggest that you … Read more