On March 15, 2018, Judge Clare McWilliams entered summary judgment in favor of defendant Avocet Enterprises due to its corporate dissolution in 2014. The plaintiff’s decedent, Roger Nelson, first learned he was injured by the wrongful act of another when he was diagnosed with mesothelioma in February 2017, nearly three years after Avocet’s dissolution, and the plaintiff later commenced this suit on April 3, 2017. At the time Avocet dissolved, section 12.80 of the Business Corporation Act provided in pertinent part:
The dissolution of a corporation … shall not take away nor impair any civil remedy available to or against such corporation, its directors, or shareholders, for any right or claim existing, or any liability incurred, prior to such dissolution . . .
Although the Illinois Legislature amended the Corporation Act in 2015 to allow five years for the filing of suits after the date of dissolution, the court agreed with our argument that the amended statute was not retroactive and entered summary judgment in favor of our client, a dissolved Illinois corporation. Read the court’s full ruling here. (PDF opens in a new window.)