Chris Aiello Law

📍 Villa Park, IL · Serving DuPage & Cook County

Civil Litigation · DuPage County, Illinois

Protect the Business You Built.

A dispute with a partner, vendor, or competitor can drain a company’s time, money, and focus fast. We resolve business conflicts decisively, with an eye on the cost, the relationships, and the bottom line, for companies across DuPage County.

0Years of counsel
0Practice areas
1990Established

Litigation is expensive, slow, and public, and good business owners treat it as one option among several, not a reflex. We do the same. Every matter starts with a clear-eyed look at what a fight will cost you in money and momentum versus what a negotiated exit would, and we push for the outcome that actually serves the company. When a case needs to be tried, we try it; when it can be settled on better terms, we settle it.

We litigate business disputes for DuPage County companies as part of our broader civil litigation practice. For a single broken agreement, see breach of contract; for disputes tied to property, see real estate litigation; and when you are planning an ownership transition rather than fighting one, see business succession. Because the firm handles all of it under one roof, we see how a dispute connects to the rest of your company and resolve it without creating three new problems.

What We Cover

Disputes We Handle

We represent companies and their owners across the conflicts that most threaten a business.

Partner, member, and shareholder disputes

Deadlock, freeze-outs, oppression of minority owners, buyouts, and fights over who controls the company. We pursue or defend these claims under the operating, partnership, or shareholder agreement and the Illinois statutes that protect owners.

Breach of contract with customers and vendors

Unpaid invoices, broken supply and distribution deals, and failed service agreements. We enforce the contracts your business depends on and defend you when a customer or vendor sues first.

Fraud and breach of fiduciary duty

Misrepresentation, self-dealing, diversion of funds or opportunities, and managers or partners who put themselves ahead of the company. These claims are fact-intensive, and we build them on the documents and the money trail.

Sale or purchase of a business

Disputes over earn-outs, undisclosed liabilities, breached representations, and deals that go sideways after closing. Because we also draft and close these transactions, we read the purchase agreement the way the court will.

Non-compete and trade-secret enforcement

Protecting or defending non-compete, non-solicitation, and confidentiality terms, including emergency injunctions when a departing employee or partner takes customers, staff, or trade secrets.

Ownership, control, and dissolution

Conflicts over who runs the company, how decisions get made, and how to separate when owners cannot agree, up to and including court-ordered buyouts and dissolution.
What to Expect

How a Business Dispute Gets Resolved

Business litigation is a business decision before it is a legal one, so we open every matter by weighing what the fight will cost the company in money, time, and focus against what a negotiated resolution would. That math shapes everything that follows. Sometimes the right move is a fast, firm resolution that lets everyone get back to work; sometimes it is standing firm and trying the case. We tell you which is which, with the numbers to back it up.

When a dispute has to be litigated, preparation is the leverage. We build the case on the operating agreement, the contracts, the financials, and the conduct, and we are not shy about moving for the injunction, the accounting, or the buyout that protects the company while the case proceeds. Throughout, we keep an eye on the relationships and the bottom line, because the goal is not just to win the dispute, it is to leave the business stronger than the fight found it. Most of these disputes are litigated in the DuPage County courts and the surrounding collar counties, and we have practiced in them for decades. That familiarity with the local bench, the procedures, and the opposing firms shapes our strategy from the first filing and helps us push the case toward the outcome the company needs.

Why Hire Us

What Sets Our Work Apart

Local court experience

30+ years in DuPage and Cook County courts and recorder offices.

Direct attorney access

Chris or John handles your file personally.

Integrated with broader practice

Real estate, litigation, and estate planning under one roof.

Honest case assessment

We’ll tell you realistic outcomes, including when settlement is better than litigation.

Transparent pricing

Flat fees where possible, clear hourly rates where flat doesn’t fit.

Responsive communication

Your calls returned, your questions answered.

Service Area

Serving DuPage & Cook County

From our Villa Park office, we represent clients across DuPage County and the western suburbs of Chicago.

Villa ParkElmhurstLombardWheatonOak BrookDowners GroveAddisonOak ParkGlen EllynBloomingdaleHinsdaleWestmontDuPage CountyCook County
Business Litigation FAQ

Common Questions

Usually settle, if the terms protect the company. Litigation drains time, money, and focus, so we weigh the cost of a fight against a negotiated exit and push for whichever actually serves the business. When a case must be tried, we try it.

Illinois law gives minority owners real protection against oppression, freeze-outs, and misuse of company funds. Depending on your operating or shareholder agreement, remedies can include a forced buyout, an accounting, or dissolution. We start by reading the documents and the conduct.

Sometimes. Illinois enforces reasonable restrictive covenants backed by adequate consideration but voids overbroad ones, and recent law limits non-competes for lower-wage workers. Whether yours holds up turns on its scope and the facts, which we assess before you act.

It depends on the dispute, but cost control is part of the strategy, not an afterthought. We give you an honest read on the likely spend and the realistic recovery up front, and we pursue early resolution wherever it serves you better than a long fight.

Yes. We litigate fights over purchase agreements, earn-outs, undisclosed liabilities, and breached representations, and because we also draft and close these deals, we understand the documents from the inside.

Often, yes. Many owner disputes are resolved through buyouts, accountings, or court orders that let the business keep operating while the conflict is sorted out. Where the relationship is beyond repair, we pursue an orderly separation or dissolution that protects the company’s value rather than destroying it.

You are not without options. Illinois statutes supply default rules for partnerships, LLCs, and corporations that govern voting, distributions, and dissolution when the owners never wrote them down. We use those defaults, and the parties’ actual course of dealing, to establish what each owner is owed.

Question About a Business Dispute?

A free consultation tells you whether you have a viable matter and what the realistic process looks like.