About David K. Staub Expertise I am a business and tax attorney and have spent more than 30 years assisting people with contracts in a wide variety of business situations. I can answer questions about basic contract issues. My experience includes almost all common contracts including employment agreements, contracts for the purchase and sale of a business, shareholder agreements, partnership agreements, LLC operating agreements, leases, software development agreements, distribution agreements, franchise agreements, joint venture agreements and software license agreements, to name a few. I can also direct people to sources for answers to specific legal questions which cannot be answered in a forum of this nature.
Experience
Experience in the area I have been an Illinois business attorney for almost 30 years. I have an extensive practice in the mergers and acquisitions area and have been involved in the tax and legal issues on hundreds of business transactions.
Organizations Illinois State Bar Association;
Chicago Bar Association (former Chairman of the Corporation & Business Law Committee and former Chairman of the Mergers and Acquisitions Subcommittee; former Executive Committee member, Federal Tax Committee and Chairman of subcommittee on general tax issues); Glenkirk Foundation (Trustee; Vice-Chairman/Strategic Planning); Association for Corporate Growth, Chicago Chapter; Midwest Entrepreneur Forum; Midwest Association of Alpha Delta Phi - President
Publications Commerce Magazine; YLS Journal; ISBA Section of Taxation Newsletter
Education/Credentials Harvard Law School, J.D., 1977; University of Illinois, B.S. in Accounting, with highest honors, 1974
Disclaimer Responses are intended to be informational only. No response is intended to constitute legal advice or create an attorney-client relationship. Online advice is not a substitute for consultation with an attorney.
Question My husband works in the service industry and agreed to work for a company whose General Manager/Owner signed a contract to pay him specific commissions for work my husband performs. Since the beginning of the contract my husband has exceeded the owner's expectations and as a result the checks my husband receives as payment for his work have been shorted by $100 or more. Today my husband received a call requesting a call from the owner to discuss the sizable commission check he must write this coming Friday to pay my husband for work performed the previous week. Our question is related to the contract the owner signed in which he agreed to pay my husband at a specific percentage. What legal recourse can my husband take to ensure that the owner will perform the written contract as agreed? What course of action can be taken if the owner decides not to pay him?
Answer Depending upon your state, there may be a state agency that should be your first resort if your husband is not paid what he is owed. Administrative agencies may be slow, but they are typically faster than the court system and you don't need a lawyer.
If that fails or is simply not available to you, then your husband can consider bringing an action in your state's small claims courts. That too is faster than a regular law suit and you do not need a lawyer.
If neither of those courses of action is available for some reason, then the only other way to force the owner to pay is to file a lawsuit. That is more costly and takes a long time to wind its way through the system in most places, but if the amounts are sizable, then it may be worth the effort.
Good luck to you and your husband on getting the full amount due to him.
