Roger Flahive was the managing member of a limited liability company called Flahive Oil and Gas, LLC. He entered into an agreement with Kaycee to mine oil and gas from Kaycee’s property, signing the contract on behalf of Flahive Oil and Gas, LLC. Flahive’s mining work, however, was negligent and resulted in the contamination of Kaycee’s property. After discovering that Flahive’s LLC did not have any financial assets, Kaycee sued Flahive in his personal capacity.

Flahive argued that he had no personal liability because the mining contract was between the LLC and Kaycee.

CASE QUESTIONS

1. Can the court disregard the LLC entity in this situation to hold Flahive personally liable?

2. Should it matter that Flahive’s LLC was a single-member LLC?