News and Results

                                                                                                                                       

Mr. Hellerman Named as a 2014 Illinois Super Lawyer® in Business Litigation

January 2014

 

Mr. Hellerman is proud to announce that he has been selected as a Super Lawyer® in Illinois in Business Litigation for 2014.  Super Lawyers® selects attorneys using a patented multiphase selection process.  Once each year, Super Lawyers® invites lawyers in each state to nominate the top attorneys they've personally observed in action.  Each candidate is then evaluated on 12 indicators of peer recognition and professional achievement.  Peer nominations and evaluations are then combined with third-party research.  Selections for inclusion as a Super Lawyer® are made on an annual, state-by-state basis.  The final published list represents no more than 5 percent of the lawyers in the state.  For more information on Super Lawyers® and its selection process, and to view Mr. Hellerman's Super Lawyers® profile, click        .

 

 

Mr. Hellerman Obtains Summary Judgment in Claim Against Lease Broker

January 22, 2014

 

Mr. Hellerman obtained summary judgment on behalf of a container manufacturer in the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois.  Mr. Hellerman's client had retained a lease broker to provide a $9.5 million equipment lease in accordance with terms provided by the client.  The broker proposed two different leases, but neither met the client's parameters, so the client did not execute either lease.  Nonetheless, the broker kept the client's good faith deposit and refused to return it after the client demanded it back, claiming that it had earned the deposit by providing the leases even though the client did not sign them.  Mr. Hellerman filed suit against the broker and, after discovery, both parties filed cross-motions for summary judgment.  After full briefing and a 90 minute oral argument, the Judge granted summary judgment in favor of Mr. Hellerman's client for the full amount of the deposit, plus attorney's fees and costs pursuant to the contract between the parties.  For additional information, please contact Mr. Hellerman.

 

Mr. Hellerman Obtains Key Banking Appellate Decision

October 2, 2013

 

In a landmark decision that defines the options available to banks against mortgagers who default on their payment, Mr. Hellerman scored a victory in the Appellate Court, obtaining an affirmance of the dismissal of a complaint against the bank.  In Turczak and Lew v. First American Bank, et al., 2013 IL App (1st) 121964, the Illinois Appellate Court for the First District made two significant holdings that clarified banks' rights under the Illinois Mortgage Foreclosure Act.  First, the court pronounced that a bank may proceed consecutively in actions on the promissory note and to foreclose on the mortgage.  Second, the court confirmed that unless and until a sheriff’s sale of a foreclosed property is approved by judicial order, the rights of interested parties – including those of banks holding junior mortgages on the property – are not extinguished.  Plaintiffs argued that the bank, which held a second mortgage on plaintiffs' home, lost its mortgage rights because it had previously obtained a judgment on its promissory note, and also that the bank's mortgage rights were extinguished by virtue of the first mortgage holeder's foreclosure judgment, though the property had not yet gone to judicial sale.  Mr. Hellerman successfully moved to dismiss the complaint, and then briefed the successful defense of the dismissal on appeal.  Click         for a link to the Appellate Court's opinion.   UPDATE:  On January 29, 2014, the Illinois Supreme Court denied plaintiffs' Petition for Leave to Appeal, thus leaving the Appellate Court's decision to stand as the definintive statement of the law in this area.