Chicago trial & appellate lawyer Carmen Caruso successfully and aggressively represents a wide variety of business entities, their ownership, and other professionals in a wide variety of complex business disputes in Illinois and nationally.
In private practice since 1983, Carmen has won cutting edge legal victories and obtained multi-million dollar recoveries for his clients, and is known for getting the best possible results in tough and challenging cases that often blaze new legal trails. He frequently litigates against much larger law firms, receives many cases as referrals from other attorneys, and has substantial experience in cases involving other’s lawyers’ actual or alleged misconduct.
Carmen concentrates in franchise, dealership & distribution law and related practice areas, and has built a growing national reputation as one of America’s leading lawyers in this dynamic field. His broad trial and litigation experience, for both plaintiffs and defendants, also includes:
• Contract litigation, including sale of business agreements, product supply and service contracts, real estate contracts, executive employment contracts, investment contracts, partnership, agreements, shareholder agreements, limited liability membership agreements, executive employment agreements, licensing agreements, in addition to franchise & distribution agreements.
• Fraud litigation, including common law fraud, federal securities fraud claims under Rule 10b-5 and related sections, consumer fraud claims under the Illinois Consumer Fraud & Deceptive Businsess Practices Act (and similar statutes in many other states), and federal claims under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (R.I.C.O), in addition to fraud claims under state and federal franchise laws.
• Bankruptcy court litigation, including fraud claims.
• Employment litigation, including claims of discrimination, wrongful discharge, sexual harassment, and workplace assault & battery.
• Trade Secret and Non-Competition litigation, arising in frranchising, employment and other business contexts.
• Fiduciary litigation, involving officers, directors, managing partners, mangers of limited liability companies, trustees and executors, and attorneys.
• Professional liability claims against attorneys, accountants (and on occasion, mental health professionals).
• Trademark litigation.
• Real estate litigation including zoning, contract, leasing, eminent domain, and housing discrimination claims.
• Class action litigation.
• Commercial arbitation, including International Arbitration.
• Civil rights litigation.
• Antitrust and price discrimination claims.
• Complex damage claims for lost profits and "loss causation" issues, involving sophisticated expert testimony (both plaintiff and defense).
Carmen has repeatedly been recognized as an Illinois Leading Lawyer in both franchising and commercial litigation (and has served on the Advisory Board of the Leading Lawyers Network since 2006; as an Illinois Super Lawyer by Illinois Super Lawyers magazine and Law & Politics, every year since inception, 2005-2009; and repeatedly as a “Legal Eagle” by Franchise Times, a Crain’s publication focused on the franchise industry.
In 2008, Carmen became a partner in Stahl Cowen Crowley Addis LLC, a dynamic, independent law firm in downtown Chicago, which offers a complete business law practice that is national and increasingly international in scope and entrepreneurial in character. At Stahl Cown, Carmen and his partners share our clients’ core values and strive for the same standards of excellence which our clients achieve in their own businesses and professions.
We invite you to contact us to discuss in confidence any particular legal problem or potential case that you may have.