Legal Question in Business Law in Washington

Re: Dissolved WA LLC being sued

This is a good example of why trying to handle these kinds of things without consulting an attorney will cost more money than consulting an attorney.

First, dissolving an LLC does not make its liability for what happened prior to dissolution go away. To answer Q1, dissolving the LLC does not mean no need to answer.

Second, not properly responding to a lawsuit (that means filing an "answer" with the court, not calling the opposing attorney on the phone and telling him to forget it) will result in a default judgment. Once in place, these are not easy to unwind. To answer Q2, depending on the details of your case, it may be impossible to make this go away.

Third, the reason an agent is listed with the Secretary of State is to provide a name that anyone can contact with service of process or any other legal matter. It is not harassment, but completely appropriate for the other attorney to continue to approach you as agent. To answer Q3, this is not harassment.

Fourth, if the LLC dissolved and has no assets, the other attorney's next step is to determine whether any assets were removed from the LLC by the member or members (presumably you) while the LLC still had unmet liabilities. If so, the attorney may try to "pierce the veil" and go after your personal assets, and if you pulled assets out of the dying LLC in order to avoid paying its bills, he or she has a good chance of succeeding.

I wish I could give you better news. There are many times when legal self help is an option, and on law guru, I often try to give people ideas about how to handle things themselves. This is not one of those times. This problem is not going to go away and could possibly get worse. Call an attorney Monday morning.