In article ,
Bill wrote:
Mr Fed UP wrote:
Other weasel words I have seen on many company names these days.
Are LLC instead of INC or CO .... I found it to be the acronym for
Limited Liability Company. Anyone know what this means for them
to weasel out of being liable? Seems like most companies are going
to similar labels. I don't want to be liable for nothing either, but
Sheezzzz!!! Do we all expect to get shafted from every place we
do business now? Any enlightenment appreciated.
Any lawyers out there? Can they really do business and not be
responsible for the services and products they sell?

You're confusing liability for damages with liability between partners
of a corporation. Same word, different context.

Here's a brief explanation taken from the web.


Liability Issues of a Limited Liability Company

In a limited liability company, a member's legal liability is limited to
his or her investment in the business. Generally, a member's personal
assets are not at risk, but a member's personal assets may be at risk if
any of the following occurs:

*
A member personally guarantees a business debt.
*
The form of business is found to be a sham (not properly formed
or maintained).
*
A member becomes personally liable as a result of his or her own
acts or conduct.


Technically, an "LLC" is a modified form of a partnership. In a traditional
partnership, *each* owner is responsible for _all_ the liabilities of the
business. In an LLC, 'n-1' (at *most*) of the partners are 'limited liability'
partners -- they have liability exposure only up to the assets they have
invested in the company (subject to 'special case' situations like those
mentioned above, whereby they may incur additional liabilities). The
remaining partner (or partners) is a "general partner", and is personally
liable for any/all things above and beyond the assets provided by the
"limited" partners.

A full fledged "Corporation" is a 'legal person' in and of itself. Assets
of the shareholders (the owners of the corporation) are immune from claims
against the corporation. Officers and directors of the corporation may
have personal liability to the shareholders for acts as a corporation official.
Persons acting "on behalf of" the corporation may end up with personal
liability for their own actions or conduct, IN ADDITION TO the corporation's
liabilities for those actions/conduct.

An LLC is much simpler -- in terms of organizational structure -- than a full-
fledged corporation, But it gives the 'limited' members "almost all" of the
protections of a passive stockholder in a corporation.

Basically, it is an attempt to give the 'small guy' most of the benefits of
the real corporation, without burdening him with all the overhead that is
necessary for a large business entity -- WHILE, at the same time, ensuring
that there _is_ a "responsible party" to fall back on, in the event of claims
against the business.

From a customer standpoint, there is essentially "no difference" between
dealing with an LLC, and dealing with a full-blown corporation.