Charles Insler and Glenn Davis recently secured the dismissal of a breach of contract case against the City of Waukegan, Illinois. Although the Plaintiff (Waukegan Gaming, LLC) had been seeking millions of dollars in damages, a Lake County Circuit Court judge agreed with Insler and Davis’ assertion that Waukegan Gaming’s Redevelopment Agreement was void and unenforceable.

The origins of the case date to 2004. At that time, the City entered into a Redevelopment Agreement with Waukegan Gaming, LLC. This agreement purported to give Waukegan Gaming the exclusive right to develop and operate the next casino in Waukegan. However, in October 2019, the City selected three casino applicants to certify to the Illinois Gaming Board. The Gaming Board, in turn, selected one of those applicants to develop the City of Waukegan casino. Following this selection, Waukegan Gaming filed suit, seeking to enforce the provisions of the Redevelopment Agreement.

In defending the City, Insler and Davis raised a number of affirmative defenses, including that the Redevelopment Agreement was not a valid and enforceable agreement because: (1) Waukegan Gaming’s obligations under the agreement were illusory promises; (2) the City of Waukegan lacked the authority to enter into an open-ended contract granting the Plaintiff an irrevocable and exclusive right to develop a casino in the City; and (3) the passage of amendments to the Illinois Gaming Act provided the City the exclusive method of selecting an operator for the casino license.

Insler and Davis are both partners in the firm’s St. Louis office. Insler concentrates his practice on complex commercial litigation, including the defense of cybersecurity, antitrust, and securities litigation. He is currently a member of the ABA’s Forum on Communications Law and speaks and writes regularly on cybersecurity and other legal issues. Davis handles complex litigation and business counseling issues in a broad range of contexts. He also leads HeplerBroom’s HBCyberGroup. He is rated an AV Preeminent Attorney by Martindale-Hubbell and is a multi-year and multi-category recipient of Best Lawyers in America’s Lawyer of the Year award.