In the case of Neubauer v. Piercy, 2025 IL App (2d) 240357-U, the Illinois Appellate Court for the Second District affirmed the dismissal of a breach of fiduciary duty claim against a law firm on statute of limitations grounds. The court held that the two-year statute of limitations barred the claim because the plaintiffs knew or should have known of their injury more than two years before they filed suit. Plaintiffs sued the Defendant law firm for breach of fiduciary duty. Rodney Piercy founded Piercy & Associates, an estate planning law firm. In 2014, Rodney Piercy and his son, Matthew, formed an investment firm known as Family Wealthy Legacy. Matthew was principally responsible for managing the investments of the company. In 2018, plaintiffs invested $1.4 million in Family Wealth Management.  Plaintiffs were essentially alleging that Rodney breached his fiduciary duty to them by failing to disclose to them in 2018 that his son was likely a fraud and crook.

The opinion sets forth the facts as follows:

¶ 6 In July 2018, Matthew confessed to Rodney that he had misrepresented to investors how he managed their money. Matthew admitted that he had “`lost'” $21 million that he had gathered from investors. Matthew asked for Rodney’s help with his plan to recover the money, which involved selling the “algorithmic application” used by investors. Matthew also told Rodney that he was the subject of a criminal grand jury investigation led by the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of California. Rodney agreed to help Matthew and to act as legal liaison to Matthew’s criminal defense counsel. By the end of August 2018, Rodney concluded that the misappropriated monies would not be recovered through the sale of the algorithmic application.