Carlson Dash Digest - March 2016 • Carlson Dash

While the Winter of 2015 may have been easier on us than winters of years past, the joy of Spring still gives us a surge of hope and optimism about the opportunities that lie ahead. This month we look at a blossoming change in Illinois Mechanic’s Lien law and how that can benefit our clients. We will also share what could be one of Carlson Dash’s best kept secrets.

Carlson Dash in Wisconsin

Is Carlson Dash’s Wisconsin location our best kept secret?

Carlson Dash opened its Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin location in November 2011. Most of our attorneys are licensed to practice in Illinois and Wisconsin, enabling us to further assist our clients who do business in both Illinois and Wisconsin. The office is conveniently located at I-94 and Hwy 165, very easy for our attorneys and clients who travel the I-94 corridor to use for meetings, conferences and depositions. The addition of our Wisconsin office location has made it far easier for our clients to get our consistent, first-rate representation from Springfield to Madison and everywhere in between.

Carlson Dash Likely Obtains First Order Substituting Bond for Mechanic’s Lien

On January 28, 2016, on behalf of our contractor client, our firm successfully obtained what likely was the very first order approving a bond under the new section 38.1 of the Illinois Mechanics Lien Act that permits an owner, contractor or other upstream party to substitute the bond for the claim for mechanic’s lien.

The decision to seek this bond was driven by the circumstances of the particular case. Is such a bond desirable in all cases? Surely not. What are some of the factors you should consider when deciding whether to seek such a bond?

Your Bible is Exempt from Bankruptcy

The Bankruptcy Court and a Bankruptcy Trustee tried to take a woman’s bible from her and sell it as an asset of her bankrupt estate. The 7^th Circuit Court of Appeals would not hear of it. Now, for some context.

The bible was an 1830 first edition Mormon Bible she found while cleaning out an old library, and for payment of the cleaning job the library let her keep the bible. She had other bibles she owned as well, but when she filed her bankruptcy she decided, understandably so, to keep the 1830 first edition Mormon Bible. A true Book of Mormon, valued near $100,000. The Bankruptcy Code allows a bankrupt to keep “a bible”. It does not say which bible, or what the value of the bible might be. It just says “a bible”. The trustee thought she should keep a Gideon Bible, free at most motels. The 7^th Circuit said, in a nutshell, it does not work that way. She gets to keep the bible of her choice, so she walked out of bankruptcy court with a $100,000 bible under her arm…I swear on a stack of bibles this story is true. For more on this, take a look.