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Clients call us when they are in a sticky situation. That is usually not the first time something went wrong. The problem has been building. The partner stopped being transparent. The manager started siphoning business. The competitor started poaching customers. The contract got ignored. Then one day it becomes urgent. There is a hearing coming. There is a TRO on the table. There is a demand letter that cannot be ignored. The business owner suddenly needs answers that are both fast and correct.

In those moments, the lawyer who understands how judges think has a real advantage.

Before joining DiTommaso Lubin, P.C., James V. DiTommaso served as a judicial extern to Justice Thomas E. Hoffman of the Illinois Appellate Court, First District, Sixth Division. During that externship, he assisted in drafting opinions and bench memorandums. That experience is not just a resume line. It is a perspective shift. It teaches you what arguments actually move the needle inside chambers and what arguments sound good only to the lawyer making them.

Here is the reality most clients do not see. Judges are not looking for drama. They are looking for a principled reason to rule. They want clarity. They want credibility. They want to understand what the law allows them to do, and they want to do it without creating a mess.

When you have worked inside the appellate process, you learn quickly that the record is the case.

A business dispute can feel like a thousand moving pieces. But the court is going to rule based on what is properly presented, properly supported, and properly framed. That is why James’s externship experience matters in everyday business litigation. It pushes the case toward what courts value: organized facts, clean legal theories, and a timeline that makes sense.

A judge’s view of a contract dispute is not “who is angry.” It is “what does the contract say, what was performed, what was breached, and what remedy is available.” A judge’s view of a fiduciary duty case is not “who feels betrayed.” It is “who owed duties, what conduct crossed the line, what damages resulted, and what evidence proves it.”

That is the difference between storytelling and proof.

James applies that discipline to the cases he litigates. When a client is facing an emergency situation, the goal is not to file something fast and hope. The goal is to file something strong and specific. A motion for emergency injunctive relief only works if the facts are tight, the law is clear, and the harm is real. Judges can smell exaggeration. They see it every day.

The same is true in partner disputes and business ownership divorces. One side often tries to freeze out the other side by controlling information. That is not just unfair. It is a litigation tactic. The best response is not to yell about fairness. The best response is to use the legal tools available and build a record that shows the court what is happening in concrete terms.

A lawyer with appellate experience understands how orders are written and why that matters. The wording of an injunction can decide the next six months of the case. The language of a discovery order can determine whether you actually get the documents you need or you spend months arguing about loopholes. The framing of an issue can decide whether you win a key motion or you lose momentum. Continue reading ›

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Most business owners will never see the inside of an appellate courtroom, and that is a good thing. Appeals are expensive, time consuming, and usually happen after a case has already chewed up months or years. But the mindset of an appellate lawyer, the discipline of precision and the obsession with the record, can make the difference in the trial court long before any appeal is filed.

James V. DiTommaso did not become a lawyer because it sounded easy. On his attorney profile, he puts it plainly: he chose to become a lawyer because he wanted to be like his dad, the person people call when they are in a sticky situation. That is also why his litigation style is direct. When a client needs help, they do not need a lecture. They need a plan.

James has lived appellate pressure in a way very few attorneys ever experience. He argued a case before the Illinois Supreme Court, an experience that changes how you approach every case afterward. It happened in Yakich v. Aulds, a direct appeal that put a constitutional question in front of the state’s highest court. The case centered on Section 513 of the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act, the statute dealing with a parent’s contribution to a non minor child’s educational expenses. The circuit court declared the statute unconstitutional as applied. The Illinois Supreme Court ultimately vacated that judgment and sent the matter back, emphasizing that lower courts are bound by Illinois Supreme Court precedent and do not have authority to overrule it.

The case was also a rare moment in Illinois legal history because it involved father and son lawyers appearing as counsel on both sides of the matter before the Supreme Court. That does not happen in routine litigation. It happens in cases that are serious, well briefed, and hard fought.

There are two ways to look at the Supreme Court’s result. One is academic. The other is practical.

The academic lesson is about stare decisis. In plain English, trial courts cannot decide they no longer like a Supreme Court case and ignore it. The practical lesson is more important for business litigation clients. When you are fighting in court, you have to know what the controlling law is today, not what you wish it was, and you have to build your strategy around it.

That is what appellate experience teaches.

In the Illinois Supreme Court, there is no room for vague arguments or sloppy storytelling. The questions come fast. The justices want to know where something is in the record. They want to know what rule controls. They want to know what the legal consequence is if they agree with you. There is nowhere to hide behind rhetoric. It is precision under pressure.

That same discipline applies to business disputes.

When a partnership fight breaks out, the “facts” are rarely clean. People remember meetings differently. Text messages are interpreted differently. Financial records can be spun. The side that wins is usually the side that turns chaos into clarity. That requires building a record that is defensible, documenting the story early, and anticipating what a judge will need to rule in your favor.

James approaches business litigation the way an appellate court reads it. What did we prove. What did we preserve. What did we make easy for the judge to adopt in a written order. That is not just a style choice. It is strategy.

Yakich v. Aulds also shows something else. High stakes litigation can be personal, but it is never only personal. The case involved a real family dispute, but the legal issue had broader implications because it challenged a statute that affects people across Illinois. In business disputes, it is the same. Your case feels unique, but the judge is thinking about rules, precedent, and the ripple effects of any order. Continue reading ›

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A lot of lawyers say they are “trial lawyers.” Then the case gets real. The judge sets deadlines. The other side files a motion that actually matters. A key witness gets cold feet. The documents tell a story your client does not like. That is the moment when you find out whether your lawyer is built for the courtroom or built for paperwork.

James V. DiTommaso is built for the courtroom.

James earned his J.D. from Chicago-Kent College of Law, and if you know Chicago-Kent, you know what that means. Chicago-Kent is not known for producing lawyers who hide behind the comfort of endless letters and endless “let’s see what happens” litigation. Chicago-Kent is known for its trial advocacy culture. The school’s trial program has been a national leader for decades, and its trial teams have competed and won at the highest level, including National Trial Competition championships in 1988, 2007, 2008, and 2015. That kind of environment changes how a lawyer thinks. It teaches you that credibility is everything, preparation beats improvisation, and the courtroom is not a place to “try something” for the first time.

That mindset is exactly what business owners need when the dispute is not theoretical and the money is not monopoly money.

Business disputes are personal even when the legal issues are corporate. A partnership fight can destroy a company faster than any competitor. A fraud case can shake a client’s confidence in everyone around them. A dealership dispute can trigger lender panic and manufacturer scrutiny. In those moments, you do not want a lawyer who is learning on your time. You want someone who treats litigation like it is a profession, not a hobby.

Chicago-Kent teaches that litigation is a craft.

James’s background at Chicago-Kent was not just a diploma on a wall. He earned a Business Law Certificate, and he was on the Dean’s List. He also served on the Executive Board for the Chicago-Kent Justinian Society. That combination matters because it is the intersection of two worlds that most lawyers do not blend well. Trial focused thinking and business focused judgment. Clients need both.

Here is the problem we see over and over again. A business owner wants an aggressive litigator. But the owner also needs practical advice that does not burn the company down while the lawsuit is pending. Too many attorneys pick one lane. They either posture, fight, and turn every issue into a war, or they hesitate, negotiate too long, and let the other side take advantage of the delay. James’s style is different. The approach is disciplined. The case is built methodically. The pressure is applied strategically. The goal is to win, but to win in a way that protects the client’s business and leverage.

Trial advocacy is not about being loud.

A strong trial lawyer is calm under fire because they know what matters and what does not. They know the difference between a motion that is theatre and a motion that changes the outcome. They know how to pin down facts early so the other side cannot rewrite history later. They know how to turn a messy dispute into a clear story a judge can understand and a jury can repeat.

That is what trial training gives you. Not swagger. Structure.

James brings that structure to the cases he handles at DiTommaso Lubin, P.C. Whether it is a business ownership divorce, a breach of fiduciary duty claim, a non compete dispute, a defamation case, or a high stakes commercial lawsuit, the plan is the same. Build the record. Control the narrative. Force the other side to commit to positions early. Expose contradictions. Then use that work to either settle on strong terms or take the case through trial.

If you have never been through litigation, here is something you should know. The most important work happens long before anyone says “your honor” in a courtroom. It happens when your lawyer is choosing the claims and defenses that actually fit the facts. It happens when your lawyer is preparing you for the deposition you are not excited about. It happens when your lawyer is reading the financial records with the mindset of a cross examiner. It happens when your lawyer is deciding whether to file for emergency relief because the business cannot survive delay. Continue reading ›

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Most dealership groups are built by partners. One person has the operational instincts, another has the capital, another brings relationships, and the business grows. That partnership model works until it does not. When the relationship fractures, the dealership cannot hit pause. Cars still have to be sold. Service lanes still have to run. The factory still expects performance. Every day of internal conflict quietly drains value.

We call these cases business divorces because the pattern is familiar. Trust breaks down. Financial transparency disappears. Meetings turn into ambushes. The majority starts treating the minority like an employee instead of an owner. Then the real damage starts: money moves through related entities, opportunities are steered to other stores, and the partner who helped build the business is told to take a discounted buyout or be frozen out.

Valuation deadlocks and why dealerships are harder than most businesses to price. A dealership is not a simple earnings multiple. You are dealing with multiple profit centers: new vehicle, used vehicle, finance and insurance, parts, service, and often separate real estate and management companies. Blue sky is real, but it has to be grounded in facts, not ego. We see partners deadlock over basic issues like whether rent paid to a related real estate company should be normalized, whether “management fees” are legitimate or a profit siphon, how to value used vehicle inventory, and how to treat manufacturer incentive programs that fluctuate year to year. Without a defined valuation process, the loudest voice often wins, and that is how disputes become lawsuits.

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Dealers invest millions of dollars in facilities, inventory, people, and goodwill. Yet when a manufacturer pushes back on a transfer, a succession plan, or even the renewal of a franchise, it can feel like the factory is the real owner and the dealer is just renting the right to do business.

Illinois law does not accept that premise. The Illinois Motor Vehicle Franchise Act sets rules for how manufacturers can behave, and it gives dealers procedural and substantive protections that can be the difference between keeping your store and losing it. The Act is not a magic shield, but it is a set of tools. The dealer who understands those tools is not negotiating from a position of weakness.

Transfer approval is not supposed to be a black box. In a sale or ownership transfer, the manufacturer often acts like it holds absolute veto power. Illinois law pushes back. The Act contemplates a process and timelines for approval decisions once a dealer submits the manufacturer’s completed application materials along with the agreements for the proposed transaction. If a manufacturer refuses approval, it is expected to state the grounds and the criteria used to evaluate the proposed transferee, and the dealer has a path to protest. Just as importantly, a timely protest can stop the manufacturer from treating a refusal as final while the dispute is still being heard.

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A dealership sale is not the same thing as selling a dental practice or a trucking company. In most deals, the buyer and seller sign a contract, the lender funds, and the keys change hands. In a franchised dealership deal, the real gatekeeper is the factory. Add floor plan lenders, real estate entities, parts and service operations, and the Illinois Motor Vehicle Franchise Act, and you quickly see why a generic purchase agreement can unravel in the final mile.

When we review buy sell agreements for Illinois dealers, we see the same pattern. The contract is drafted like a standard business sale, and then dealership reality shows up. The manufacturer wants more time or more information. Someone mentions the manufacturer’s right of first refusal. The floor plan lender needs a payoff package and a VIN schedule that no one prepared. The parties start arguing about how much of the price is blue sky versus hard assets. Meanwhile the rumor mill kicks up, employees get nervous, and the parties lose control of the timeline.

Five clauses matter most. They do not make a deal complicated. They make it honest. And when they are drafted correctly, they keep the buyer and seller in charge instead of letting the factory, the lenders, or a surprise tax issue take the wheel.

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The Pedigree Gap

Why Your Lawyer’s Academic Background Matters in the Courtroom Marketing can be bought, but a University of Chicago Law education is earned. When Peter Lubin steps into a courtroom, he brings a level of sophisticated analysis and peer-recognized skill that reshapes the case. Having been named the first “Law Firm of the Year” in DuPage County, we prove every day that elite academic credentials translated into aggressive trial work are the ultimate competitive advantage.

Modern Discovery & E-Discovery

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The Myth of the Big Firm: Why Agility Wins in Modern Litigation

Many clients believe that a massive firm is required for a massive case. The reality? Huge firms are often slowed down by committee structures and bureaucratic oversight. At DiTommaso Lubin, we have the same access to top-tier experts and forensic data tools as any “Big Law” firm, but we operate with the speed of a fighter jet. When a trial shifts, we pivot in seconds—not after a firm committee meeting. We have handled very large and complex trials including trials that have lasted two years in one case and resulted in a judgment of over $20 million in closely held family business dispute involving serious breaches of fiduciary duty that required our lawyers with the help of forensic accounts, witness interviews and over 30 depositions to expose complex employee expense allocations where the controlling partner falsely allocated millions of dollars in employee expenses related to his solely owned business to family’s jointly owned business and also charged multi-million dollar management fees when he was charging for ghost employees who were only providing services to his business. In other words he was charging the joint entities millions of dollars in fees for supposedly keeping expenses down when in fact he was the one with his hands in the cookie jar. We have years of experience reviewing complex acccounting records and then using live witnesses to expose complex fiduciary fraud. We win cases through hard work and knowledge of complex business issues and fiduciary fraud schemes and not from simply being the loudest one in the court room. We know when to be calm and to negotiate like big firm lawyer and when to be “street fighters” but not in sense of fighting dirty but to fight hard and fair for our clients and to be the truth tellers in the courtroom that the judge and jury rely upon.  Our track record of wins and big settlements is the proof that our court room style works.

James DiTommaso: The Modern Problem Solver 

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DiTommaso Lubin, P.C. announced today that it has formally launched a series of specialized practice groups designed to serve car dealerships, closely held and family businesses, media and internet clients, and high net worth individuals with both litigation and transactional needs.

DiTommaso Lubin, P.C. announced today that it has formally launched a series of specialized practice groups designed to serve car dealerships, closely held and family businesses, media and internet clients, and high net worth individuals with both litigation and transactional needs.
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When Majority Owners Turn on Their Partners

In closely held corporations and limited-liability companies, majority owners sometimes forget that they owe duties to their partners. We see the same pattern again and again: a founder who built a business is gradually cut out of key decisions, denied access to financial information, removed from management, and eventually offered a take-it-or-leave-it buyout at a fraction of what the stake is actually worth.

These “squeeze-out” and “freeze-out” tactics can be subtle—changing compensation structures, diverting opportunities to new entities, or refusing to declare dividends while insiders pay themselves oversized salaries. In more extreme cases, they involve outright fraud: phony invoices to related companies, off-the-books revenue, or manipulated financial statements designed to hide the business’s true value.

We also regularly defend owners wrongfully accused on using freeze-out tactics.

Combining Oppression, Fraud, and Consumer-Fraud Theories

Our firm regularly represents minority owners who have been frozen out of the businesses they helped build controlling owners who allegedly have done that. Depending on the facts, we may bring claims for shareholder oppression, breach of fiduciary duty, common-law fraud, unjust enrichment, and, where appropriate, claims under statutes such as the Illinois Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act, 815 ILCS 505/2, when deceptive tactics are used to induce an unfair buyout. We also are experienced at litigating affirmative defenses to these types of claims.

The same kinds of deceptive practices we see in consumer transactions—omitting material facts, presenting misleading financials, and papering over obvious discrepancies—often appear in freeze-out cases. When majority owners present inflated or deflated numbers to justify squeezing out a partner, we treat that as serious misconduct, not “hard bargaining.”

The Role of Forensic Accountants in Freeze-Out Cases

In many freeze-out disputes, the key question is simple to ask but hard to answer: what is the company really worth, and how much value has been diverted? To answer that, we bring in forensic accountants who are experienced in partner and shareholder litigation. They can:

  • Analyze financial statements, tax returns, and bank records to identify hidden income and excessive insider compensation;
  • Reconstruct the economic value of the business at key points in time; and
  • Quantify damages from diverted opportunities, self-dealing, and other fiduciary breaches.

We have worked with experts whose prior cases resulted in courts awarding tens of millions of dollars in compensatory and punitive damages to defrauded business owners after proving that they were induced into or kept in unfair deals by false financial information. That experience informs how we structure our own freeze-out and squeeze-out cases.

Remedies: More Than Just a Buyout

In some situations, the right remedy is a fair-value buyout of the minority owner’s interest, supervised by the court and informed by independent valuation. In others, injunctive relief to stop ongoing diversion of assets or to restore a client to management is critical. Where fraud or willful misconduct is involved, we also seek punitive damages to deter similar conduct in the future.

Because freeze-out tactics can overlap with libel—such as when majority owners make false accusations about a partner to justify their removal—we are prepared to add defamation claims when warranted. Our experience protecting reputations in offline and online settings gives us additional tools when smear campaigns accompany financial misconduct.

What Sets Our Freeze-Out Practice Apart

Our work in squeeze-out and freeze-out cases stands out because we:

  • Combine corporate, commercial, and tort theories to put maximum pressure on wrongdoers;
  • Use forensic accounting early to understand where the money has gone and what the business is truly worth;
  • Are comfortable litigating cases that involve complex deal documents, multi-entity structures, and overlapping personal and business relationships; and
  • Understand that for many clients, these cases are about more than money—they are about vindication and the ability to move forward.

That mix of legal and financial sophistication is especially important in closely held businesses, where personal relationships and family dynamics often collide with corporate governance. Continue reading ›

Contact Information
Chicago Office
19 S LaSalle St #702
Chicago, IL 60603
Phone: 630-333-0333
Mailing Address
17W220 22nd St #410
Oakbrook Terrace, IL 60181
Phone: 630-333-0333 Please direct all mail correspondence to our Oakbrook Terrace address office.
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189 Whistler Rd
Highland Park, IL 60035
Phone: 630-710-4990
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Phone: 603-333-0333
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