Resources | Client Alert

Actions Taken by the District Court On Tuesday, May 26, the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois updated, for the fourth time, its General Order 20-0012 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The District Court’s original General Order extended all deadlines, whether set by the court or otherwise, by 21 days. On March 30, an Amended…

Actions Taken by the Bankruptcy Court The COVID-19 pandemic notwithstanding, the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Illinois remains open for business, although not business as usual. Recognizing the need to maintain social distancing, the Court has made several significant changes to its daily operations. After two months of hearing routine motions telephonically, the Court has implemented…

Chicago Anti-Retaliation Ordinance On May 20, 2020, effective immediately, the Chicago City Council approved an ordinance that prohibits employers from terminating or demoting an employee because the employee stayed home from work in compliance with a health order or to care for a person subject to a health order.  Employees who are terminated or demoted will now be able to…

May 12, 2020 As COVID-19 presses state and local governments to continue their shutdown orders, some businesses are incurring extensive expenses and losses. Whether the business is open with limited capacity, allowing employees to work from home, or closed until the orders are lifted,  businesses are asking if and how insurance can provide relief. This article provides information on the…

While the world continues to adjust to the COVID-19 pandemic, the current interest rate environment creates excellent opportunities for advanced estate, income and creditor protection planning.  The following are eight tips/opportunities that should currently be considered in the current market environment: (more…)…

Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker’s Executive Order 2020-30 issued on April 23, 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic offers relief to commercial tenants throughout the state by placing restrictions on evictions of commercial tenants. Following in the footsteps of New York and California, Gov. Pritzker banned state agencies from enforcing evictions of all non-residential premises unless “the tenant has been…

Out-Of-Court Distressed Asset Purchases, a Primer The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted businesses and commercial relationships worldwide, cutting wide swaths of through entire sectors of the economy.  The current government regime of subsidizing whole industries and individual businesses is still evolving.  Commercial lenders have been incentivized to forbear and defer defaults – but the piper must eventually be paid.  Enterprises that…

The Small Business Reorganization Act (SBRA) was enacted in February 2020 with no one anticipating the global pandemic. Today, the financial consequences have hit small businesses hard. The SBRA, commonly known as Subchapter V, may provide much-needed relief to small businesses as they struggle through the crisis. With the Subchapter V election likely to surge during and after the pandemic,…

Many current businesses own cyber insurance policies that actually may not cover incidents or claims that are the result of an employee using his/her own personal device(s) for Work From Home (“WFH”) purposes for their employer. This is an easy mistake for employees as WFH is the current norm. As with all insurance contracts, whether there is coverage or not…

While the Illinois dispensing organization conditional licenses have not been awarded yet, we are hopeful they are coming soon. That being said, here are the two questions I get asked most about the current Illinois dispensing license applications: Will COVID-19 cause the IDFPR to delay granting licenses on the scheduled date of May 1, 2020; and If I do not…

Illinois Workers' Compensation Commission Updates After initially voting 9-0-1 to approve a new emergency rule that created a rebuttable presumption that the workplace is the cause of an employee contracting COVID-19 to the extent such employee works for an essential business, the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission (the “Commission”) met yesterday, April 27, to formally withdraw the rule.  The Illinois Manufacturers’…

In Treasury Department Notice2020-23 (released April 9, 2020) and Internal Revenue Service update to Notice2020-18, the IRS provided additional relief for taxpayers amid the COVID-19 crisis by extending key deadlines for Like-Kind (Section 1031) Exchanges.  Specifically, the Notices extended some of the due dates related to the identification and final exchange periods.  These time periods are generally 45 days and 180…

Families First Coronavirus Response Act On April 1, 2020, the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) issued temporary regulations (the “Rule”) to implement the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (“FFCRA”), providing additional guidance to employers and employees on how to provide and take expanded family and medical leave or paid sick leave (collectively, “Leave”) under the FFCRA.  A copy of the…

The Coronavirus crisis has arrived. This global pandemic has placed a hard stop on economic activity across the board, sending markets into freefall and skyrocketing unemployment claims to unprecedented heights. Chapter 11 filings are anticipated to surge, forcing bankruptcy courts to clean up large swaths of the crisis’ aftermath. But for now, it is anyone’s guess when the uptick in…

The Small Business Administration has released the application for the Paycheck Protection Program and loans available pursuant to the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act). The Treasury Department has released an information sheet for borrowers, which can be found here. Additional information can be found at the Treasury Department’s website, found here. The Treasury Department has encouraged…

The Families First Coronavirus Response Act (the “FCCRA”) was signed into law on March 18, 2020.  Since then, questions as to scope and applicability have been raised by employers and employees alike.  The U.S. Department of Labor has and continues to provide guidance as to how employers and employees should interrupt the FFCRA.  A summary of the FCCRA can be…

The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) is Congress’s initial economic stimulus plan in response to the coronavirus pandemic. Additional economic stimulus packages are expected. The CARES Act was signed into law by the President today. The $2 trillion package provides relief to businesses, individuals, families, the healthcare system, states, and more. We are continuing to review…

As we hunker down during COVID-19, here are seven tips to make sure your estate plan is in good health: 1. Make Sure Your Basics Are Covered At a minimum, every adult should have a Will, Power of Attorney for Health Care, Power of Attorney for Property and HIPAA Designation. Parents of minor children should be certain their Wills include…

On Monday March 23, the federal Small Business Administration (SBA) confirmed that cannabis businesses are ineligible for disaster relief loans to assist with the detrimental effects of the Coronavirus outbreak. In the recent Twitter post, the SBA stated, “With the exception of businesses that produce or sell hemp and hemp-derived products [that were federally legalized under the 2018 Farm Bill],…

On March 18, 2020, the President signed the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (the “Act”).  Yesterday, the U.S. Department of Labor provided sample posters for private and public employers to post prior to April 1, 2020. Here is a link to the DOL poster for private employers. Also, the DOL provided guidance regarding the manner of providing notice to employees…

The economic uncertainty caused by the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted businesses and commercial relationships worldwide.  As COVID-19 continues to spread, businesses may experience disruptions that make it difficult or impossible to fulfill their contractual obligations.  Under certain circumstances, those disruptions may justify non-performance.  One such escape hatch is a force majeure clause, which is a provision contained…

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted businesses and commercial relationships worldwide. As commercial operations continue to be shuttered and revenues cut off, principals of companies will likely find themselves questioning where their obligations and responsibilities lie when the entity’s solvency is questionable.  When a corporation is solvent, the fiduciary duties of the corporation's board of directors run to…

Covid-19 is disrupting businesses, their supply chains and their customers and causing major losses. Governors of Illinois, California, New York and Pennsylvania have issued “stay at home” and similar orders impacting employees and many businesses. Are any of these losses covered by insurance? The answer is maybe. The type of insurance a business carries and the specific insurance policy language are critical to determine…

This afternoon, Governor Pritzker issued an Executive Order in response to COVID-19 (No. 8).  The Order is effective as of Saturday, March 21, 2020 at 5:00 p.m. through Tuesday, April 7, 2020.  Here is a link to the Order. The Order provides that: All individuals in Illinois are to stay at home or at their place of residence, except as…

On March 19, 2020, Chicago Mayor Lightfoot announced that the City of Chicago will extend the due date for “small businesses” to pay the following Chicago taxes to April 30, 2020: Bottled Water Tax, Checkout Bag Tax, Amusement Tax, Hotel Accommodations Tax, Restaurant Tax, and the Parking Tax. The City requires that taxpayers pay these taxes on or before the…