LLF's Ryan Manion Scores Appellate Victory, Securing Payment of Over $700,000 in Compensatory and Punitive Damages for Clients

In business litigation, the road from filing a complaint to getting money in a plaintiff’s pocket can be a long and winding one. Even after a win at trial or summary judgment, an appeal can follow. Even after a win at the appellate level, actually collecting the amount awarded in a judgment can be a challenge, especially if the plaintiff’s attorney hasn’t taken the affirmative steps needed to secure payment.

Recently, LLF’s Ryan Manion demonstrated the importance of perseverance, zealous advocacy, and proactive strategy in such matters. His efforts, spanning nearly four years in a case that lasted nearly eight years in both trial and appellate courts, resulted in his obtaining, defending, and soon to be collecting a judgment of over $700,000 in compensatory and punitive damages, plus interest, in a contentious and complex business ownership dispute.

Manion represented two of the three individuals who owned a small youth athletics business in the Chicago suburbs. After disagreements between the owners made continuing the business untenable, they reached an agreement to go their separate ways, with Manion’s clients agreeing to resign as managers upon distribution of the business’s assets in proportion to their ownership share, leaving the other owner to run the company.

Thereafter, the third owner failed to divide and distribute the assets as agreed and instead engaged in a range of unscrupulous activities that depleted the business of all its assets, including self-dealing with a new company he owned and his use of the old company’s assets for personal expenses, among other forms of malfeasance.

In 2017, the plaintiffs sued the third owner and two other businesses owned by the third owner for conversion, breach of fiduciary duty, unjust enrichment, and other counts. After extensive discovery and motion practice, Manion secured the entry of summary judgment in favor of his clients in 2023. The trial court not only granted the plaintiffs’ request to dissolve the company but also awarded Manion’s clients $513,000 in compensatory damages and an additional $187,000 in punitive damages, the latter being equal to half the amount the plaintiffs incurred in attorneys’ fees and costs.

The defendant moved the trial court to reconsider, and Manion successfully petitioned the trial court to require the defendants to post a bond. The trial court eventually denied the defendants’ motion to reconsider, so they appealed and converted their bond to an appeal bond. An appeal bond, also known as a supersedeas bond, is a financial guarantee required to stay the enforcement of a judgment in a civil case while the case is under appeal. It ensures the original judgment, plus interest and costs, will be paid if the appeal is unsuccessful. 

In this case, due to Manion’s efforts at both the trial and appellate levels, the defendant’s appeal was, in fact, unsuccessful, with the appellate court affirming the trial court’s judgment on November 12, 2025. Because Manion had the foresight to move for a bond in response to the motion to reconsider, there are now sufficient funds available to pay the judgment in full, which will result in his clients receiving all amounts they are owed once the mandate issues from the appellate court.

The firm congratulates Ryan on this outstanding outcome he obtained for our clients.