Question: An investor brought suit against an architect after the investor lost $600,000 in a failed project. To develop the project, a real estate empire in Chicago, an LLC, the Burnham Station, was created by JDL. The investor arranged to buy shares of Burnham that totaled $600,000. JDL managed the Burnham Station. JDL hired an architectural firm called Tigerman McCurry Architects (TMA) to develop the real estate.
After the investor fi led suit to recover the money he had lost in the project, TMA claimed that the investor could not fi le that suit because the contract at issue was between TMA and JDL. TMA claimed that Burnham was never envisioned as a third party or beneficiary of the contract. If Burnham was not included in the written contract but was involved with JDL and Burnham's money was lost in the project, does this mean the investor is automatically a third party to the contract? How did the court decide?