Chicago Business Litigation Lawyer Blog
The lawyers shook hands in the hallway, or the owners worked it out in the judge’s chambers. Everyone reported the case as settled. Then the written agreement came back with terms nobody remembered, the other side stopped returning calls, and the first payment never arrived. Now you are asking whether you have a settlement or only a memory of one.
In Illinois you may well have an enforceable agreement even with nothing signed. Settlement is a contract, an oral settlement can bind the parties, and a court can enforce it. But a court will enforce only the terms the parties actually agreed on. The side that wants certainty has to get those terms down early, in writing, and with thought for what happens if someone does not pay.