Chicago Business Litigation Lawyer Blog

Cosby Case Proves that the Line Between Freedom of Speech and Defamation Can Be a Fine One — Best Defamation Libel and Slander Lawyers Near Chicago

October 19, 2015 | Peter S. Lubin and James V. DiTommaso

The line between freedom of speech and defamation can be a fine line at times. Although the First Amendment to the United States Constitution allows us to speak our minds, it does not give us total immunity when saying things that have the potential to seriously damage another person’s reputation and/or career.

That line is again being contested in a current defamation lawsuit against Bill Cosby. Three women, Tamara Green, Therese Serignese, and Linda Traitz, who are just three of dozens of women who claim they were sexually assaulted by Cosby decades ago are now filing a lawsuit against the entertainer for defamation.

The lawsuit alleges Cosby’s representatives damaged their reputations by denying their allegations of sexual assault in language that was sometimes disparaging. They claim their accusations were dismissed as “ridiculous claims” and “absurd fabrications” to give two of the shorter alleged remarks. The lawsuit alleges these comments were intended to discredit the victims. One statement allegedly touched on Traitz’s criminal and personal record to discredit her allegations. Continue reading ›

NPR Reports: “Firm Accused Of Illegal Practices That Push Families Into Foreclosure.”

October 14, 2015 | Peter S. Lubin and James V. DiTommaso

NPR reports:

According to Moody’s Analytics, there were 700,000 foreclosures last year. And some of those people probably didn’t need to lose their homes. Even now, more than six years after the housing crash, lawyers for homeowners say mortgage companies are still making mistakes and foreclosing on homes when they shouldn’t be.

Ocwen Financial Corp. is facing an investigation by regulators and a new lawsuit over its treatment of homeowners facing foreclosures. The class-action suit alleges that Ocwen has been charging marked-up, illegal fees and unfairly pushing homeowners into foreclosure.

Arbitration Agreements May be Banned to Protect Consumers Rights to Pursue Class Actions and Jury Verdicts

October 13, 2015 | Peter S. Lubin and James V. DiTommaso

The class action lawsuit is a powerful tool for plaintiffs, particularly consumers. The costs associated with filing a lawsuit are too high to justify filing for a small claim, because the cost of the lawsuit would be greater than the potential payout. Class actions address this issue by allowing many plaintiffs with the same, or similar complaints to file one lawsuit together. With enough class members, the combined claims are often more than enough to justify filing a lawsuit. It also provides the plaintiffs with greater leverage against their defendants, who tend to be large corporations with a team of lawyers at their disposal.

Big businesses have been arguing against class actions and trying to make it more difficult for class actions to make it to the courts. One of the ways they have done this is by requiring consumers to sign contracts that include arbitration clauses in which the consumer agrees to settle all disputes with the company in arbitration, which does not allow class actions. Continue reading ›

Supreme Court Opens the Floodgates to Striking Down Certain Statutes that Regulate Speech — Top Chicago area libel defamation and slander lawyers near Wheaton and Naperville

October 12, 2015 | Peter S. Lubin and James V. DiTommaso

It all started with a little law that discriminated against signs for church services in favor of signs promoting political candidates. It’s clear why citizens would take exception to such a law. What’s less clear is how the Supreme Court, in its ruling on the matter, managed to wreak havoc on all laws regulating signs, labels, and even automated phone calls.

Not only did the Supreme Court invalidate the law in question, but it has forced lower courts to invalidate on issues as unrelated as panhandling. Continue reading ›

Sony Settling Class Action Lawsuits for Data Breach

October 10, 2015 | Peter S. Lubin and James V. DiTommaso

In today’s increasingly digital age, it has become easier than ever for hackers to gain access to people’s personal information, leaving them vulnerable to identity theft. Most major credit card companies offer monitoring services to protect customers from fraudulent charges, but they charge an extra fee for these services and many people don’t want to pay the extra fee if they don’t have to.

More often than not, large companies are the targets of cyberattacks, but it’s not usually the company that experiences any negative outcomes from the attacks. Instead, it’s the customers and/or employees whose personal information was compromised in the attack who suffer. The companies rarely experience any consequences of these attacks until someone files a lawsuit against the company for failing to take the proper security measures to protect against these data breaches. Continue reading ›

Non-Compete Agreements: Our Experienced Attorneys Can Help You

October 8, 2015 | Peter S. Lubin and James V. DiTommaso

Your employer may demand that its new new employees sign a non-compete agreement before you start the job or if it is implementing a new program requiring such agreements. Such agreements usually go into effect when you leave that company. Employers ask you to sign non-competition agreements for a variety of different concerns. These concerns are protection of trade secrets, customer relationships and business goodwill. Courts generally disapprove of non-competition agreements if they simply are designed to limit and restrict a former employee’s right to earn a living. Non-competition agreements are therefore closely scrutinized by the courts for reasonableness and to make sure that they are not overly restrictive.

The Law’s Criteria for Non-Compete Agreements

In order to be considered legal, a non-compete agreements must:

Be supported by consideration (provision of some benefit to the worker) at the time signed;
Protect a legitimate business interests of the employer; and
Be reasonable (as opposed to overly and unnecessarily broad) in scope, geography, and time.

Non-compete agreements must generally be supported by legally valid and legitimate consideration — the employee must receive something of value in exchange for the promise to refrain from competition. In Illinois this can be a payment of money or two years of employment following signing the non-compete or other benefits. If an employee signs a non-competition agreement prior to beginning employment, the employment itself will be sufficient consideration for the promise not to compete if such employment continues for two years. Continue reading ›

Ashley Madison Sued in Data Breach Class Actions

October 8, 2015 | Peter S. Lubin and James V. DiTommaso

Class actions are an extremely useful tool that benefit both plaintiffs and the courts. When plaintiffs suffer small damages that are not large enough to justify the expenses associated with filing a lawsuit, a class action allows multiple plaintiffs with similar complaints to combine their claims into one lawsuit. This also saves the courts time and money by preventing them from getting flooded with numerous lawsuits of the same nature.

Companies who conduct business all over the country sometimes face multiple class action lawsuits in different courts. Depending on where the jurisdiction falls, these class action lawsuits can sometimes be combined into one, large, nation-wide class action lawsuit. Continue reading ›

Our Chicago Data Breach and Privacy Protection Class Action Lawyers Bring Class Actions in Data Breach Cases to Protect Victims Rights – Contact One of Our Data Breach Attorneys if You Are Victim of a Data Breach Including the Ashley Madison Data Breach

October 7, 2015 | Peter S. Lubin and James V. DiTommaso

Data Breach Cases

We are investigating various data breach cases and will bring class actions on behalf of victims of data breaches such as the Target, Ashley Madison, Sony and Home Depot data breaches.

Contact Us if You Are a Victim of the Ashley Madison Data Breach or of Another Data Breach

NPR Reports: “Inspiration Or Appropriation? Behind Music Copyright Lawsuits”

October 7, 2015 | Peter S. Lubin and James V. DiTommaso

NPR reports:

Where do you draw the line between inspiration and appropriation when it comes to musical compositions? That question is at the heart of several high-profile court cases, including the recent “Blurred Lines” trial and a current copyright-infringement lawsuit involving “Stairway to Heaven.” But it isn’t always easy to prove a song is yours – particularly when you’re up against one of the biggest rock and roll bands of all time.

Super Lawyers named Illinois business trial attorneys Peter Lubin a Super Lawyer in the Categories of Class Action, Business Litigation, and Consumer Rights Litigation. DiTommaso Lubin’s Illinois business trial lawyers have over a quarter of a century of experience in litigating complex class action, trademark and libel suits, consumer rights and many different types of business and commercial litigation disputes. We handle emergency business law suits involving injunctions, and TROS, covenant not to compete, franchise, distributor and dealer wrongful termination and trade secret lawsuits and many different kinds of business disputes involving shareholders, partnerships, closely held businesses and employee breaches of fiduciary duty. We also assist businesses and business owners who are victims of fraud. You can contact us by calling at 630-333-0333. You can also contact us online here.

What Should an Employee do When Asked to Sign a Non-Compete Agreement — Our Chicago Non-Compete Agreement Lawyers Litigate Non-Compete Agreement Issues Throughout the Chicago Area

October 3, 2015 | Peter S. Lubin and James V. DiTommaso

Our Chicago non-compete agreement attorneys have defended high level executives in covenant not to compete and trade secret lawsuits. A case in which our firm defended a former Motorola executive was covered in Crain’s Chicago business. You can view that article by clicking here.

DiTommaso Lubin a firm of Chicago business dispute lawyers handles litigation over non-compete clauses for individuals and businesses of all sizes, including small or closely held businesses for whom competition from an ex-employee can be a serious threat. Our Chicago business lawyers with offices near Naperville, Oak Brook and Chicago have substantial experience in restrictive covenant and breach of contract cases, and we are proud of our record of strong results.