Leprino Foods Co. is the largest manufacturer of mozzarella cheese in the world and is solely responsible for making all the mozzarella that goes on top of Domino’s, Papa John’s, and Pizza Hut’s pizzas. It’s worth billions of dollars, but it’s also a family business. It was founded in Denver,…
Articles Posted in Shareholder Freeze Out
Two Major Luxury Brands Were Scheduled to Merge, But There’s Been a Hiccup
LVMH Moët Hennessy-Louis Vuitton SE was scheduled to acquire Tiffany & Co. no later than August 24th, 2020, but the merger came to a halt when LVMH failed to even apply for antitrust clearance. Antitrust laws exist to avoid monopolies. If two major companies merge to form one company, there’s…
Partners Owe Fiduciary Duty to Each Other Even During Adversarial Litigation
After partners in a closely held corporation entered into years of adversarial litigation, a settlement agreement was reached. One of the partners later sued the other two, alleging that he was fraudulently induced into agreeing to the settlement when the defendant’s counsel misrepresented the financial position of the corporation at…
Judge Agrees Shareholders Were Oppressed, But Deliberates Over How to Compensate Them
Investing is supposed to be a long-term strategy to build wealth, but expecting shareholders to wait more than 60 years before they can get a fair return on their investment is far beyond what any investor would consider reasonable. That was allegedly the case for the minority shareholders of Promega…
Lawyer’s Motives Questioned After Judge’s Recusal — Chicago Business Litigation Lawyers Near Oak Brook — Chicago Shareholder Oppression Lawyers Near Oak Brook and Naperville
We obtained justice in a shareholder dispute and shareholder oppression case after Defendants hired a former partner of the judge. The Sun-Times reported the story as follows: Lawyer’s motives questioned after judge’s recusal Did lawyers for one side of a case hire the judge’s former law partner just so the…
Lubin Austermuehle’s Oak Brook and Chicago Attorney Peter Lubin Named 2013 Illinois Super Lawyer as Class-Action, Business Litigation and Consumer Rights Attorneys
Super Lawyers named Chicago and Oak Brook business trial attorney Peter Lubin a Super Lawyer in the Categories of Class Action, Business Litigation and Consumer Rights Litigation. Lubin Austermuehle’s Oak Brook and Chicago business trial lawyers have over thirty years experience litigating complex class action, consumer rights and business and…
Northern District of Illinois Federal Court Dismisses Double Derivative Shareholder Action Due to Lack of Parent / Subsidiary Corporate Relationship
Members of the board of directors of a corporation have the responsibility to orchestrate the business in such a way that is advantageous to the shareholders and the continued growth and prosperity of the company. However, there are times when those directors may act in a way that serves their…
Attorneys May Be Disqualified When Appearing Before a Judge Who is a Former Law Partner
Our Chicago, Naperville, Wheaton and Oak Brook business trial lawyers won an important procedural victory in a business dispute involving a closely held business. In short, we were able to convince an Illinois trial court that an attorney’s appearance should be stricken after being added to a case, we argued,…
Evidentiary Hearings in Motions to Disqualify Illinois Attorneys
A recent case of ours includes a motion to disqualify attorneys for the defense under Rule 3.7 of the Illinois Rules of Professional Conduct. Part (b) of that rule states that a lawyer may not represent a client in a case where he or she may be called as…
Shareholders Cannot Use Attorney Client Privilege to Effect a Freeze-Out
Our Chicago business litigation firm recently handled a case in which one 50% shareholder allegedly tried to freeze out the other using lawyers hired by the companies owned equally by both. When our clients filed a shareholder freeze-out and breach of fiduciary duty claim and began discovery, the defendants…