Kleinwort Benson North America, Inc. v. Quantum Financial Services, Inc.

The issue presented here is whether punitive damages can be recovered by assignees after a common law fraud claim brought by a corporation has been assigned by the corporation to its former shareholders. The corporation in this case is Quantum Financial Services, Inc. (Quantum). As part of a declaratory judgment action filed in the circuit court of Cook County, Quantum filed several counterclaims, including a fraud claim, against Kleinwort Benson North America, Inc., Klein-wort Benson Ltd., and Marcus Hutchins (collectively, Kleinwort). Quantum later assigned these counterclaims to the former…