Bass v. SMG, INC.

NATURE OF THE CASE

Defendant SMG, Inc. (defendant or SMG), appeals a decision of the circuit court of Cook County denying its motion to compel arbitration of tort claims brought by plaintiff Richard Bass (plaintiff or Bass) individually and derivatively as a shareholder of Innovative Consultants, Inc. (IC). The circuit court rejected defendant’s argument that the brokerage agreement between SMG and IC (agreement or SMG-IC agreement), which contained an arbitration clause, made arbitration the appropriate mechanism for resolving Bass’ claims for inducement to breach fiduciary duty, tortious…