Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Michigan
LLC liability- prior acts
I have been appraising houses, doing business under the name Smiths Appraisal for 10 years. I recently formed Smiths Appraisal LLC to limit my personal liability. If someone sues me for an appraisal I did 5 years ago, are my personal assets still protected under my LLC?
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: LLC liability- prior acts
No, you are only protected for actions taken while the LLC was in effect. If you had professional malpractice insurance at the time you made a boo-boo, then it may cover you.
Re: LLC liability- prior acts
No, they did business with you under the assumption and direction that you were an individual. Can your business defend the claim? Absolutely, but your liability is probably not affected (even today) by your LLC status.
The reason is that you are still really the company and the company is still really you.
You can stave off complaints with good customer after-care, so look into that as a possible way of ferreting out potential issues from the past. AND, get a legal opinion on the statute of limitations for your industry. It's a deductible business expense.