Legal Question in Business Law in Illinois

Assign Right To Sue - Corporation to Individual

I am getting ready to file an amended complaint in a lawsuit and have a question. It was filed by me individually on behalf of my corporation for breach of contract and violation of Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act.

Obviously I messed up as opposing counsel filed motion to strike as I am not a licensed attorney. I am sole shareholder/officer of s-corp and to has been suggested I assign right to sue so I can amend complaint with me named individually. This mainly impact the breach of contract portion as it was my signature and name on everything but checks were made payable to my company. Do I need to even assign right to sue or can I simply act as individual plaintiff since I was, in actuality, the injured party. Perhaps the right to sue assignment clears this up.

Any thoughts and wisdom are welcome.


Asked on 12/02/08, 8:13 pm

3 Answers from Attorneys
Motty Stone Law Offices of Motty Stone

Re: Assign Right To Sue - Corporation to Individual

Hiring a lawyer would probably be faster and easier than trying to get around the requirements.

Assigning the claim is not going to work if the judge realizes what you are doing, and also is going to be harder to prosecute if you were acting on behalf of the company when the breach occurred.

Please feel free to call me if you want to talk.

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Answered on 12/03/08, 12:19 pm

Re: Assign Right To Sue - Corporation to Individual

Play it safe-hire an attorney.

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Answered on 12/02/08, 9:55 pm
Lawrence A. Stein Aronberg Goldgehn Davis & Garmisa, LLC

Re: Assign Right To Sue - Corporation to Individual

You cannot lawfully assign the claim to yourself to avoid having to hire a lawyer to prosecute the corporation's claim. In Illinois, doing so probably constitutes the criminal offense of the unauthorized practice of law, which I think is a felony and can be punished by contempt of court. And of course your amended complaint with this strategy will probably be dismissed too. In fact, I do not think any amendment or amended complaint could ever fix your error, even if the amended complaint or amendment is signed by a licensed attorney. Your case is a complete nullity because you were not authorized by law to commence the proceedings. The only valid solution is to dismiss your case and hire a lawyer to file a whole new case, paying new filing fees and the fees to serve the defendant again.

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Answered on 12/02/08, 10:25 pm


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