When you rent an apartment from a landlord, you will sign a lease agreement which controls how the details of your relationship will be handled.   Clearly every lease should set out the amount you will be paying in rent, and when your payments are due.  But the other paragraphs of your lease can also affect what you may have to pay if there is a problem or an issue between you and your landlord.  All of the parts taken together tell the full story of who is responsible for which things moving forward.

Sometimes you may sign on the dotted line, and hope for the best, without really knowing what may be expected of you if, for example, there is a fire in your apartment, or some other problem comes up.  Landlords have more experience and familiarity with their own lease agreements.  So it is in the best interest of tenants to know what they are getting themselves into when they sign.

When it happens that you do end up in a disagreement with your landlord or the landlord’s insurance company, you do not necessarily need to accept on faith if they are telling you that you are responsible for something according to the lease.  Recently in a case in the Illinois courts, a tenant was being told by the landlord’s insurer that he was responsible for fire damage.  The insurer pointed to the lease provision that said that the tenant was responsible for all damage.

But also in the same lease agreement, was a more specific provision about fire damage, excluding it from the loss that the tenant would be responsible for.  Had he just accepted what he was being told, that his lease made him responsible for all loss, he would have been forced to pay a lot of money.  Instead, the lease had to be read all together as one whole document, to get the full story.  One particular part should not have been pulled out from the rest.  According to the lease, the fire damage was not his cost to pay.

Landlord’s and insurance companies have tried to make the opposite argument as well.  Not only do they try to point to one particular part and not the whole, but in other cases they have said that if a specific provision is absent from the lease, you can rely on that too, in spite of what the rest of the agreement actually says.  In the scenario of fire damage, the argument has been made and rejected, that if the agreement does not specifically exclude fire damage from tenant’s responsibility, then the tenant must be on the hook for it.

The Illinois courts have said, in this context too, that the lease must be looked at as a whole, and not picked apart for what is in one section, or what is not there.  They have said that you look at all of the parts of the lease agreement together, and see what each side intended.

The lesson to be learned from these cases is that it is important to know what you are signing before you commit yourself, but also that games of “gotcha” will not necessarily fly when it comes to interpreting financial responsibility in leases.  It is best to speak with an attorney if you are in such a situation, and be sure that what you are being asked to pay is really in fact your responsibility.

2/7/12

When you rent an apartment from a landlord, usually you are asked for an amount of money up front as a security deposit.  Your landlord holds this deposit, so he or she is not stuck losing money on things like unpaid rent, or damage to the property when your lease is done or you leave.  But the landlord is holding your money, and cannot treat it casually.  There are Illinois laws as well as local ordinances, which spell out how your landlord should handle your security deposit in a residential rental.

For example, renters in Evanston fought back to have their security deposit returned, and had the backing of a local Evanston ordinance, which is similar to ordinances in the city of Chicago, and other towns in Illinois.  The law specifies that a landlord has a certain period of time to return your security deposit.  And if some or all it is being held to repair damage to the property that you caused, the landlord needs to give you a written notice that itemizes the charges that are needed for those repairs.

In this case, at the end of the lease, the landlord kept the full amount of the security deposit, and sent the renters a list of the property damage, but said the charges were to be determined.  According to these local ordinances, specific dollar amounts needed to be provided for all the money that was not being returned.   Actual repair costs should be determined and provided for you, before your money is kept from you.

Illinois law generally, also provides apartment renters with security deposit protection.  The law sets out deadlines for the landlord to give notice about damage to the property and repairs that are required, and to then provide receipts for the work.  If the landlord does not comply with the deadlines and requirements for showing why some or all of your security deposit should be withheld, then the full amount needs to be returned.

Your landlord should not just hold on to your security deposit money, because he or she had a disagreement with you about the condition of your apartment and the repairs. You are entitled to have some certainty and security in how your money is being handled.

2/3/12

Sometimes an unwanted text message from a business may actually be illegal under certain federal laws. One such law is the CAN-SPAM Act (which stands for Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing), banning unsolicited messages in the form of texts to cell phones. Other laws prohibiting unwanted “text spam” are the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) and the national Do-Not-Call-List, prohibiting messages to telephone numbers that are registered. Text messages are considered calls under the Do-Not-Call-List.

Still, there are exceptions. If you’ve agreed to receive texts from a certain business, then they are not illegal. Oftentimes, you may actually agree to accept texts without even knowing it. In that case, you will probably have to take the initiative and contact the company to advise them that you would no longer like to receive the messages.

If there are companies that you have an existing relationship with, then text messages from that company may also be legal. For example, if you have an account with Verizon and you receive texts about options on your account, then the texts are likely legal and you will have little or no recourse.

However, if you believe that the unwanted text messages you are receiving from businesses are illegal, you may consider a lawsuit. Keep in mind that these types of lawsuits are generally class-action lawsuits, meaning a group (the “class”) sue together in one case. The reason for this is that as an individual your losses, or damages, may be relatively small and, when you factor in legal fees on top of that, it might not be worth it at all. But, when you sue as a class, the total damages may be significant and the legal fees are contingent, meaning the lawyer doesn’t get paid unless you win.

An example of a text messaging lawsuit is the case against the company Timberland, which was sued under the TCPA and settled for $7 million, agreeing to pay back the individual plaintiffs for the costs of the texts.

Again, all of the above relates to unwanted text messages from businesses. Unwanted text messages from a friend or co-worker are not covered under these laws. However, if you are receiving text messages from anyone that you find harassing, especially if they are threatening harm, call the police immediately.

There are many experienced class-action attorneys in Illinois that handle text spam lawsuits. If you feel you may be the recipient of such texts and want to talk to an attorney, we can recommend based one in your area.

1/5/12

Selecting a legal malpractice attorney is a careful process because, if you are seeking one, you have obviously had an unfortunate experience with a prior attorney. Below are some things to consider in selecting a legal malpractice attorney who will serve you well.

First, because you are suing a lawyer, you want to make sure your potential legal malpractice lawyer does not know this person. The legal community can be very small and conflicts of interest present themselves. Before you waste any time, confirm that there are no conflicts of interest.

An example of a conflict of interest would be if your potential legal malpractice attorney represents someone at the same firm as your former lawyer.

Next, you want to make sure that your potential legal malpractice attorney has solid experience in this area. Look for at least ten years of experience and a track record with cases similar to yours. Ask about prior similar cases and how they were resolved.

Come up with a strategy together. You and your attorney should be on the same page and he should understand and strive to meet your goals, or at least tell you if your goals are not reasonable and why not. You must have an open dialogue to ensure that your potential legal malpractice attorney understands what you expect and vice versa.

You should also ask about what to expect in terms of proceedings, such as how long things usually take and what will be asked of you. In terms of documentation, you may be asked to recount a timeline of what took place and produce prior emails and correspondences. You will only help your case and your attorney by having this information organized and readily available.

There is a heavy burden of proof in legal malpractice cases. You must prove that your former attorney didn’t simply make a mistake but that, if not for the mistake, you would have had a positive result. Discuss this with your attorney. Be sure to understand how you will try to prove this.

In terms of the client/attorney relationship, your attorney works for you and that means you can expect that he returns phone calls in a timely manner and answers questions in plain English. Set up a plan for communication so that you are kept up to date on the status of your case.

In terms of fees and costs, legal malpractice cases are handled on a contingency basis. This means that you pay nothing unless you win. If you win, your attorney gets a portion of the recovery amount. If you lose, your attorney gets nothing. It is part of doing business in this area of the law. You should also advance nothing for costs. Your attorney should advance court fees and other costs and either be reimbursed from the recovery amount or absorb the costs as a business expense.

Before you meet with a potential legal malpractice attorney, keep the above in mind to ensure that you are hiring the right attorney for you.

You hear a lot about class action lawsuits but, if you’ve never been a part of one or even if you have, you may not be aware of the following 10 interesting facts about these lawsuits that we learned from an Illinois class action attorney.

10 interesting facts about class action lawsuits

1. Certain things will determine if it is worth bringing a group of people together for a class lawsuit, such as the number of people affected, whether they have the same issues and whether the entire class’ interests will be served by bringing suit.

2. If you lost only about $100, it’s not worth pursuing an action because the filing costs alone will be more than that. However, if 10,000 people lost $100, they can bring a class action lawsuit and costs and attorneys’ fees will come out of whatever the recovery amount is. So, if the case is successful, you will recover something, at least. If not, you are in no worse position than you were before.

3. If you decide that you don’t want to be part of a case, you can still make your situation known to the Illinois Attorney General Department of Consumer Fraud, your city’s consumer service department, as well as the Better Business Bureau.

4. You may not want to be part of a lawsuit and, instead, prefer to bring the case on your own. However, there are instances where a judge may require that similar cases be part of a class claim so that the defendant does not incur excessive costs by repeatedly defending similar cases.

5. The four most common types of class action lawsuits are employment related (such as a group of workers affected by an illegal act of the employer), securities law (such as a group of investors harmed by the wrongful acts of one company), consumer fraud (such as a group of consumers harmed by one defendant) and product liability (such as a group of people harmed by a defective product).

6. These lawsuits could, in some cases, have millions of plaintiffs. That is why a “lead plaintiff” is selected to attend meetings, depositions and possibly testify at trial. This person may be selected because he or she will make a good witness and because his situation is a good representation of what the whole class has experienced.

7. The lead plaintiff could receive more money from the recovery amount, as determined by the judge, than the rest of the group for to compensate for his or her time and effort.

8. Attorneys that handle these cases do not ask for any payment up front. Rather, they receive a court-approved percentage of the recovery amount, if any.

9. We think it is important to select an attorney with at least 10 years of experience handling claims to the one you are pursuing and that he or she is part of a financially stable firm that can foot the bill for costs and fees during the litigation of the suit.

10. Illinois class action rules and regulations can be very intricate and there are also federal rules that might apply, which can cause your case to end up in federal court. Your experienced attorney should be very familiar with all of these.

There is more to class lawsuits than the above but these are some the interesting facts about these types cases.

- Choose an attorney who primarily handles major class action lawsuits. Look for least ten years of experience in handling these types of cases.

- Reputation is important. Choose a firm with a solid reputation in the legal community for handling these lawsuits.

- Your attorney should have a proven track record in the specific area of law related to your case. For example, if your lawsuit involves a defective product that caused injury or illness, we strongly recommend you obtain a lawyer who has successfully handled similar product liability cases.

- Illinois class action rules and regulations can be complex and certain federal rules might even place the case in federal court and not state court (such as the Class Action Fairness Act). Your attorney should be thoroughly familiar with Illinois class action rules and regulations as well as applicable federal law and be able to navigate the intricacies of both.

- Look for an attorney at a financially stable firm that is able to cover the costs and expenses that will be incurred and will not seek money from its clients during the litigation.

- Your attorney should be honest with you and the other plaintiffs about the potential for success in the lawsuit.

- Although class action suits may involve a large number of plaintiff clients, your attorney should still keep his or her clients informed and up to speed on all significant developments in the case.

- Your attorney should not make decisions on your behalf without considering your needs and desires. It is important to express to your attorney what you need and want and your attorney should act on your behalf with this information in mind.

- You are the customer. Your attorney should treat you with respect, promptly returning all phone calls and e-mails and taking the time to answer questions.

- Attorneys in class lawsuits are paid on a contingency basis. This means that they are only paid if the suit is successful and they are paid out of whatever amount is recovered from the defendant. The judge determines what percentage of the recovery amount the attorney will receive and it is based on a number of factors, including the work involved and the amount recovered.