The Illinois Mechanics’ Lien Act ( 770 ILCS 60/1 et seq) provides a remedy to a contractor who provides improvements to real estate by allowing him to lien the property (place a hold on the property to secure payment). Once the lien is perfected, it clouds the property’s title and the contractor can sue to foreclose the lien and force a sale of the property. Without this lien remedy, the contractor is at the mercy of the general contractor or owner. If either runs out of mon

Contract rights are assigned fairly often, especially in the mortgage loan and credit card contexts. In the former mortgage scenario, it’s common for a promissory note to be assigned multiple times during the note’s lifespan. When there’s eventually a note default, it becomes a challenge for the noteholder to trace how it came into the note’s possession. Repeated note assignments also provide the note maker (person who signed the note) a ready-made defense to a lawsuit base

The misnomer and mistaken identity doctrines each involve situations where a plaintiff has sued a defendant too late. Misnomer is basically a spelling error. The plaintiff can correct a misspelled defendant’s name at any time, even after judgment. 735 ILCS 5/2-401(b). With mistaken identity, the analysis is more intricate: the court applies Code Section 2-616(d) to determine whether the time-barred complaint relates back to the original (timely) filing date. In a case of m