Before Harvest Begins: Family Farm Succession Planning Conversations to Have Now is a timely reminder for farm families in late July. Once harvest season begins, there may be little time for difficult conversations about ownership, management, retirement, family expectations, or what happens if a key decision-maker becomes unavailable.
Farm succession planning is not just an estate-planning exercise. It is also a business-continuity plan, a family communication plan, and a risk-management tool. The earlier those conversations happen, the more options the family may have.
Why Late Summer Is a Good Time to Talk
Harvest brings pressure. Equipment needs to be ready,…
Continue Reading Before Harvest Begins: Family Farm Succession Planning Conversations to Have Now

If you’ve looked up anywhere in Chicago, you’ve probably seen a product this company has been producing for over a century. That’s something that makes Carl “Gus” Porter proud as he carries on a family tradition that started in 1916. WGN Flag Company, named after founder William George Newbould, produces and raises banners and flags all around the city and the world. They create the four-star Chicago flags that fly around the Loop and the championship banners at the United Center at their headquarters on South Chicago Avenue.  Through the years, they’ve provided decoration for major events in the area,…
Continue Reading Chicagoans You Should Know: Gus Porter & WGN Flag Company

A federal court of appeals upheld the termination of a city firefighter after he posted several racially charged and offensive posts on his personal Facebook account. Inendino v. Nance-Holt.
A firefighter worked for a city fire department for 16 years. Most of his work was at a station in a predominantly Black neighborhood of the city. As an EMT, he had frequent contact with the public and engaged directly with patients. He had a personal Facebook page which was publicly viewable. On his personal Facebook page, he identified himself as a city firefighter, and his profile picture depicted him on…
Continue Reading Appeals Court Rules in Favor of City in Challenge to Firefighter’s Termination for Social Media Posts

Illinois Supreme Court Rule 103(b) allows dismissal of a case with prejudice when a plaintiff fails to exercise reasonable diligence in obtaining service on a defendant after the statute of limitations has expired. There is no clear line, however, that determines exactly how much delay is too much.

The recent Hernandez case[1] provides an interesting example of when a delay in serving a defendant becomes simply too long.

The Case

In December 2019, Plaintiff filed a slip-and-fall lawsuit against her landlords based on a January 2018 incident. The court issued summonses for defendants on the same day.

By April…
Continue Reading When Late Is No Longer Better Than Never: Appellate Court Affirms Dismissal After 32-Month Delay in Serving Summonses

The Country Thunder music festival near the Illinois-Wisconsin border has faced repeated reports of sexual assault involving young women and minors. A recent Chicago Sun-Times investigation identified multiple incident reports from 2024 and 2025, along with other allegations dating back more than a decade. The reports raise serious questions about who is responsible for safety at a music festival and whether enough is being done to protect festival attendees. The person who commits a sexual assault is responsible for injuries caused by the attack. However, festival organizers, private security companies, property owners, vendors, and other parties may also be held…
Continue Reading Country Thunder Sexual Assault: Who Is Responsible for Safety at a Music Festival? 

Attorney Scott Goldstein of Ankin Law recently represented an overhead crane operator who injured his knee and hip while at work. When the worker was not getting fair treatment from his employer, he turned to Scott to get him the compensation he deserved. In the end, an arbitrator ruled in the injured crane operator’s favor. He will receive: 1. $611.00 for medical bills incurred 2. Hip Surgery 3. Temporary Total Disability of $988.27/week for 45 2/7 weeks; and 4. Prospective Medical Care for his left hip surgery and ongoing treatment for his left knee injury. [Read the Full Arbitrator …
Continue Reading Arbitrator Rules for Hip Surgery and TTD for Overhead Crane Operator

All divorces are legally and emotionally complex, but high asset divorces are even more so. This is due, in part, to the separation, valuation, and distribution of high-value assets, but there are often other factors at play as well. Maybe the earning potential of one spouse is much lower than the other. Maybe the assets came from a family-owned business that may be placed at risk during divorce.
Backed by more than 100 years of collective legal experience, The Stogsdill Law Firm, P.C. has the experience, knowledge, and resources you need for a high-asset divorce. Our DuPage County high asset…
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When a family member dies in an accident because of someone else’s negligence, Texas law may allow two separate legal claims. A wrongful death claim covers what the family loses after the death, like income and companionship. A survival action covers what the person who died went through before their death, like medical bills and pain. 
If you lost a loved one to an accident in 2026, a McKinney, TX wrongful death attorney can explain how wrongful death and survival action claims affect how much your family recovers.
What Is a Wrongful Death Claim Under Texas Law?
According to the…
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The Chicago regulatory environment is very favorable to employees. An employee does not have to win an original discrimination, harassment, or wage complaint to bring a retaliation claim. In many cases, the employee only needs to show that they engaged in legally protected activity and then suffered some type of punishment because of it.
This creates major risk for employers because a legitimate disciplinary decision must often occur shortly after an employee complains about something. Our Chicago business law attorney can help employers dealing with employment law issues. Whether you need to respond to employee complaints or defend against…
Continue Reading Five Common Retaliation Claims Chicago Employers Face and How to Fight Them

A family business you built doesn’t just go to your kids because that’s what you want. Once you remarry, Illinois law, your estate plan, and your company’s documents can determine who receives your ownership interest when you die. This is a common issue in 2026 for blended families, where children from a first marriage, a new spouse, and years of work are all tied to the same business.
A Yorkville, IL business estate planning attorney can review your ownership documents and help close gaps that put a family business at risk.
Does Remarriage Turn a Family Business Into Marital Property…
Continue Reading What Happens to Your Family Business When You Remarry in Illinois?

A pedestrian accident can happen in an instant, but the effects often last much longer. Whether someone is crossing the street, walking through a parking lot, or simply traveling along a sidewalk, a collision with a motor vehicle can result in serious, life-changing injuries. 
After an accident, one of the first questions people ask is: Who was at fault? 
The answer isn’t always as straightforward as many people expect. While drivers have a responsibility to watch for pedestrians, pedestrians also have a duty to use reasonable care. Determining fault often requires looking closely at how the accident happened and whether either…
Continue Reading Who Is at Fault in a Pedestrian Accident in Illinois? 

Choosing a nursing home for a loved one is one of the most important decisions a family can make. You want to feel confident that the facility will provide compassionate care, maintain a safe environment, and treat residents with the dignity they deserve. 
But how can you tell if a nursing home is actually providing quality care? 
While no facility is perfect, there are certain indicators that can help families make informed decisions. Knowing what to look for before—and after—a loved one moves into a nursing home can help you identify potential concerns early and advocate for their well-being. 
 …
Continue Reading How Do You Know If a Nursing Home Is Safe in Illinois? 

A business can be marital property without every component of the business’s value being a marital asset. When a closely held business is closely identified with one spouse, this distinction is particularly important.  For example, Spouse A founded the company, established its reputation, and generated most of its revenue. Spouse A may credibly argue that without Spouse A, there is no business. However, Spouse B argues that the company has a recognizable name, employees, systems, equipment, customer records, contracts, and relationships that will stay after Spouse A leaves. Both spouses may be correct. A business can contain value attributable personally…
Continue Reading Personal Goodwill vs. Enterprise Goodwill When Valuing A Business In An Illinois Divorce

Never are patients as vulnerable as during surgery, when we are incapacitated and completely in the hands of the medical professionals we’ve trusted with our care and our lives. Unfortunately, surgical negligence or a hospital’s administrative error can cause the unthinkable to occur during surgery, including performing a procedure on the wrong body part. This is wrong-site surgery, and, alarmingly, it’s more common than we’d like to think. Contact a medical malpractice lawyer in Chicago if you believe you’ve been affected by a wrong-site surgery.

What Types of Procedures are Involved In Wrong-Site Surgeries?

The medical community considers wrong-site surgeries…
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Here is the uncomfortable sequence. An employee quits, calls a plaintiff’s firm, and the very first document that lawyer asks for is your cannabis employee handbook. Not your license. Not your SOPs. The handbook — because it is the cheapest way to find out whether you had a written policy covering whatever just happened. If the answer is no, or if the answer is a generic retail template you downloaded in 2021, the case gets easier to bring and more expensive to settle.

Licensed operators tend to treat the handbook as an HR chore. It is closer to a…
Continue Reading Cannabis Employee Handbook: 9 Critical Policies [2026]

The single most expensive assumption in licensed cannabis is that you may drug test your staff the way any other retailer would. Cannabis employee drug testing is governed by state law, and the states that legalized cannabis did not agree with one another. A policy that is perfectly defensible in Illinois can be a straightforward violation in New York — same words, same company, different zip code.

Multi-state operators feel this first, but single-state operators get hurt worse, because they usually adopted a template written for somewhere else and never had it read.
Can you drug test dispensary employees for…
Continue Reading Cannabis Employee Drug Testing: 7 Critical Rules [2026]