Here in West Virginia, it’s exam time for our law students. For my Business Organizations students, tomorrow is the day. For students getting ready to take exams, and for any lawyers out there who might need a refresher, the Kentucky Supreme Court provides a good reminder that LLCs are separate from their owners, even if there is only one owner.
Here’s a basic rundown of the case, Turner v. Andrew, 2011-SC-000614-DG, 2013 WL 6134372 (Ky. Nov. 21, 2013) (available here): In 2007, an employee of M&W Milling was driving a feed-truck owned by his employer. A movable auger mounted on the feed-truck swung into oncoming traffic and struck and seriously damaged a dump truck owned by Billy Andrew, the sole member of Billy Andrew, Jr. Trucking, LLC, which owned the damaged truck. Andrew filed suit against the employee and M & W Milling claiming personal property damage to the truck and the loss of income derived from the use of damaged truck. Notably, the LLC was not a named plaintiff in the lawsuit.
Hey issue spotters: check out the last line of the prior paragraph. (Also: a bit of an odd twist is the Andrew chose not to respond to discovery requests, though