Lawsuit Helps Shape Illinois Law

Effective June 1, 2009, new notary laws have taken effect in Illinois. These new laws affect identification requirements and real estate logging requirements for Cook County. We have incorporated the new laws with the old laws in our updated Illinois Online Video Course. The new course includes the new Cook County notary record form.

The lawsuit that was the catalyst for this new legislation involved a FedEx/Kinkos location where the employee notary notarized a document without all signers present. The EMPLOYER was held liable for the damages due to "negligent training and supervision." Had the FedEx/Kinkos employee taken our Illinois Notary Course, he would have fully understood his and his employer's liabilities and how to avoid such a costly lawsuit.

The case involves improper training, improper identification, no personal appearance, not securing the notary stamp, not securing the notary journal and improper supervision of an employee notary. The lawsuit states that the notary “had a number of problems that he didn’t realize [he had].” We cannot emphasize enough that every notary should go through our training program. Ignorance of the law is not a good enough defense. In this case, the notary settled for $30,000. The FedEx/Kinkos store was ruled liable for over $123,000 in damages plus legal fees. That is much more expensive than one of our online video courses.

Notaries and Employer's of notaries: Do not let this happen to you and/or your employees. Do your due diligence and have your notaries take our course. Whether you are in Illinois or any other state that does not require education, it is imperitive that you and/or your employee notaries know what they are doing and to stay out of trouble. See our notary training options.

For the full text of the Illinios Law Suit: http://www.state.il.us/court/OPINIONS/AppellateCourt/2008/1stDistrict/December/1062750.pdf