Most business partnerships begin with shared vision, mutual trust, and the best of intentions. But businesses evolve, and so do the people who own them. Disputes over money, management decisions, profit distributions, and strategic direction are among the most common, and most damaging, conflicts in commercial life.
At King & Jones, our Chicago partnership dispute lawyers represent business owners, partners, and LLC members in high-stakes intra-business disputes. Owner and member conflicts sit within our wider corporate litigation work. Whether you are a majority stakeholder dealing with internal disruption, a minority owner being pushed out or frozen out, or a partner who has discovered that someone you trusted has been misappropriating company assets, we bring the strategic depth and trial experience these disputes demand. We work to resolve conflicts as efficiently as the situation allows, but we are fully prepared to take your case to trial when that is what it takes to protect your interests.
Is a co-owner conflict threatening your business? Talk with our team.
Why Partnership and LLC Disputes Are Uniquely Complex
Disputes between co-owners of a business are not like ordinary commercial litigation. The parties often have a long shared history, intertwined financial interests, and ongoing obligations to each other and to the business itself. These cases require partnership litigation lawyers who understand not just litigation strategy, but business: how companies are structured, how operating agreements and partnership agreements allocate rights and obligations, how business valuations work, and how to identify financial misconduct buried in years of records.
King & Jones represents clients across the full spectrum of intra-business conflicts, including:
- Agreement violations by a partner or member
- Misappropriation of funds or assets
- Ownership, profit-sharing, and capital contribution disputes
- Fraud, self-dealing, and breach of fiduciary duty
- Wrongful expulsion and freeze-out claims
- Minority owner oppression
- Business dissolution and valuation disputes
Many of these cases include a breach of fiduciary duty claim, and our article on the elements of a fiduciary duty claim explains what has to be shown.
Negotiation, Mediation and Settlement
Many co-owner disputes are resolved through negotiation or mediation, especially when the business still has value worth protecting. A settlement can set the terms of an exit, a new division of duties or an orderly wind-down without the cost of a trial.
Buyouts
When owners decide to part ways, a buyout is often the cleanest answer, but the price turns on how the interest is valued and what the governing agreement says. Our guide on how to end a business partnership in Illinois walks through the options.
Majority or Minority: We Represent Both Sides
Partnership disputes rarely have a clear hero and villain. Majority stakeholders face real risks too, from partners who obstruct legitimate business decisions, misuse company resources, or pursue personal agendas at the company’s expense. Minority owners face a different but equally serious set of risks: exclusion from management, manipulation of financials, and pressure tactics designed to force them out at a fraction of what their interest is actually worth.
For majority stakeholders, we help enforce your rights under the governing agreement, remove or restrain partners whose conduct is harming the business, and protect the company’s value while the dispute is resolved.
For minority owners, we aggressively pursue claims for oppression, breach of fiduciary duty, and misappropriation, and we use every available legal tool, including injunctive relief and court-ordered dissolution, to level the playing field against partners who have greater control over company resources and information. Having litigated partnership and LLC disputes from both sides for decades, we understand the full landscape of these cases, and we build strategy accordingly from the first day of engagement.
Business partner dispute attorneys on our team include Paul King, whose practice covers fiduciary duty and fraud disputes, and William H. Jones. Former clients describe working with us, in their own words, on our testimonials page.
Need help with a partner or LLC dispute? Contact our team.
Illinois Remedies in LLC and Partnership Disputes
The type of entity matters in an Illinois co-owner dispute, because a partnership, an LLC and a close corporation each come with their own governing terms.
The ILLCA, as amended effective July 1, 2017, provides at least two remedies for oppression, dissolution and wind-up, as well as a court-ordered buyout of the oppressed member’s distributional interest, which still contrasts with the broader menu of twelve statutory remedies available to shareholders of close corporations under the Business Corporation Act.
Our Chicago partnership dispute lawyers handle conflicts among owners of partnerships, LLCs and closely held companies in Cook and DuPage counties.
Where to Find Us in Chicago
King & Jones
70 W Madison Street
Suite 3970
Chicago, Illinois 60602
Why Co-Owners Turn to Our Partnership Litigation Lawyers
Our partnership dispute lawyers combine trial experience with a working knowledge of company finances, so we can find the facts that matter in the records and press your position in negotiation or in court. Early advice can also keep a dispute from spreading to customers, lenders and employees.
Internal business disputes don’t resolve themselves, and the longer they go unaddressed, the more damage they do to the business and to each owner’s interests. If a partnership or LLC conflict is threatening what you’ve built, contact King & Jones.
What Partners Ask a Partnership Dispute Lawyer
Can you sue your business partner?
Often, but the right claim depends on the partnership or operating agreement, how the business is organized and what the other owner did. Before filing, we review the governing documents and financial records to see whether a lawsuit, a negotiated exit or a buyout best protects your interest. Our article on suing a co-owner goes deeper.
What should you do if a partner is taking money from the business?
Start by preserving records such as bank statements, invoices, emails and the company’s books, and avoid tipping off your partner before you have them. A business partner dispute lawyer can help you request what is missing and plan the next step. Our article lists the steps to take when a co-owner takes company money.
Can you see the company’s books and records?
Access to records is often the first fight in a co-owner dispute. The governing agreement and Illinois law both bear on what you can see and how to ask for it, and a written request is usually the starting point. Read our guide to requesting records from your company in Illinois.
How do you remove a toxic business partner?
It depends on what the agreement allows and how the partner is harming the business. Some disputes end with a negotiated exit, while others call for asking a court to step in. Our article on taking a harmful partner out of the business through the courts explains the options.