Legal Question in Civil Litigation in California

Well there are two issues here. Theses answers are general answers not knowing all your facts which could change things.

#1 Can the creditor sue you individually? Depends on what you did. If you personally guaranteed the debt yes. If you didn't no unless he can pierce the corporate veil i.e. showing your LLC was essentially a shame

#2 Is the service proper? No the service is not legal on you if they didn't make three unsuccessful attempts and then leave it with someone who is both competent and over the age of 18. They cannot simply throw the papers on the porch absent a court order in which case they would have post them not throw them on the porch.

Hope this helps and good luck.

You should consult with an attorney. Process must be personally served. It can if necessary be served by leaving a copy with a responsible person at the home or place of employment of the defendant. You need to contest service of the summons and complaint. If you do not take action he may obtain a default judgment and you will have try and get it set aside. The easies and surest way to deal with this is to head on and not try to fix it after the fact.

Mr. Belli answer is very good. He is correct that a lack of facts means we can give only a very general answer. There are other reasons, aside from the two major ones he points out, that allow a LLC's protective veil to be pierced.

While it might end up being a waste of time, I would call the creditor up and try to find out why he is doing what he has done. Point out to him that he does have to go after the corporation and not you and that during the bankruptcy no civil litigation action can be taken without the bankruptcy court's approval. If he sues you, you wil probably have to cross complain against the LLC, which you are not allowed to do, so you will have to ask the Superior Court judge to hold his suit in abeyance [limbo].

If the LLC has an attorney, tell him about what has occurred. If needed, ask if he could do the motion to quash if the creditor tries to get a default judgment. He/she can then ask the BK judge to impose sanctions on the creditor, especially since you can testlify that you told him what the situation was. You might not need yet to go to the expense of hiring your own attorney, but if you do you can attempt to ge a judge to award you your attorney fees because the creditor should not have been suing you.

These are two separate questions. The first is whether service of the complaint is proper. The second is whether you have personal liability. In general, complaints and similar such documents must be personally served. There are, however, alternative methods when personal service cannot be made. As to the question of personal liability, in general the officers of an entity, such as an LLC, are not personally responsible for the obligations of the entity unless they personally guaranteed them in some fashion. There are, however, a number of exceptions that could allow a creditor to pursue the officers even when they did not guarantee the obligation.

In your specific case, the answers to both of these questions will depend on your specific facts. You should consult with an attorney right away so that you can protect yourself. You should also keep in mind that the creditor thinks (or at least will argue) that you have been properly served with his complaint. If you do not respond to that complaint, or get an extension of time to do so, the creditor could request that the Court enter a default against you for failing to respond in a timely manner.

The law says that if you receive a summons, you have been served, even if the service is improper or "illegal." I strongly recommend against playing the "I have not been properly served game." Process servers are infamous for lying about service, and default judgments are often entered based upon false proofs of service. It will cost you several thousands of dollars to set aside a default judgment based upon the grounds you were never properly served. The better course of action would be to hire an attorney as soon as possible and file a response with the court. You may or may not be liable as an individual depending on the facts or your particular case.