LLC Mistakes Closer Than Kevin Bacon

I decided to track the path of "limited liability corporation" (which should be "limited liability company" when referring to an LLC) in a recent court case.  It's my thing.  Anyway, this gem popped up today: 

This Court previously held “although wage, investment, and other economic losses may flow to an individual from discriminatory harm suffered by a corporation, those injuries are not ‘separate and distinct’ from those suffered by that corporation.” Club Xtreme, Inc. v. City of Wayne, 2010 WL 1626415 at *5 (E.D. Mich. Apr. 21, 2010). Under Michigan law, rules with respect to corporations apply equally to limited liability corporations. Hills and Dales General Hosp. v. Pantig, 295 Mich.App. 14, 21 (2011). As such, a limited liability company is its own “person,” separate and distinct from its owners. Id. Here, Darakjian is separate and distinct from his LLC, TIR.

Darakjian v. City of Birmingham, 2019 WL 3412883 (E.D.Mich.) at * 4. 

 

First, "Club Xtreme?"  Yeah, that's my Michigan. 

 

Second, "Under Michigan law, rules with respect to corporations apply equally to limited liability corporations." True as to LLCs, but, um, no, LLCs are not corporations. So where did that come from? 

Well, this part of "bad law" originates here, as noted: "The rules respecting the corporate form apply equally to limited liability corporations." Hills & Dales Gen. Hosp. v. Pantig, 295 Mich. App. 14, 21, 812 N.W.2d 793, 797 (2011). Except that, and good on them, the case Hills and Dales cites is Florence Cement Co. v. Vettraino, 292 Mich. App. 461, 477, 807 N.W.2d 917, 926 (2011), which only talks about a "limited liability company." This one is an easy Kevin Bacon game. It's just two degrees back.  I suppose that's good, right? Still ...

Do these mistakes, in this instance, impact the outcome? No. But that's not the point. There are cases where LLC versus corporation does matter. And these mistakes will provide citations for incorrect outcomes.