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42 Suffolk U. L. Rev. 459 (2008-2009)
Through the Looking Glass: Status Liability and the Single Member and Series LLC Perspective

handle is hein.journals/sufflr42 and id is 471 raw text is: Through the Looking Glass: Status Liability and the Single Member and Series LLC Perspective Carter G. Bishopt Until the release of Revenue Ruling 88-76, only two states adopted limited liability company legislation, Wyoming in 1977 and Florida in 1982. In 1975, Alaska rejected adoption of the first limited liability company legislation based on concerns regarding the tax classification of a limited liability company. When Revenue Ruling 88-76 resolved those concerns, all fifty states and the District of Columbia adopted legislation by 1996, only eight years later. Revenue Ruling 88-76, however, did not resolve whether a single-member limited liability company should be classified as a sole proprietorship or a corporation. That matter was not resolved until 1997 with the release of the check-the-box regulations. Again, within a few years all states had amended their limited liability company legislation to permit a single-member limited liability company. Further still, while Delaware adopted series limited liability company legislation in 1996, the check-the-box regulations did not address the classification of a series within a limited liability company. Since 1996, only six other states have followed suit. The 2008 release of Private Letter Ruling 200803004 classifying a series in the same manner as any other business entity under the check-the-box regulations signals a potential amendment of those regulations to embrace the series. If so, once again, all remaining states might be expected to provide for a series. These enormous events raise important transparency questions regarding where disregarded entities exist for state law purposes. Stated another way, what is the state of member status liability in these forms? As this article explores, the tax classification and state statutory amendments have given rise to a proliferation of these forms while failing to address fundamental state law liability concerns that separate owners from the obligations in these forms. t Professor of Law at Suffolk University Law School, Boston, Massachusetts. The author was a chair and co- reporter for the drafting and adoption of the Minnesota Limited Liability Company and Limited Liability Partnership Acts. He was also a National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws reporter for the Uniform Limited Liability Company Act, the reporter for the Limited Liability Partnership amendments to the Revised Uniform Partnership Act, and a co-reporter for the Revised Uniform Limited Liability Company Act.

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