The business community’s growing preference for the LLC entity form over the traditional corporation and partnership forms has introduced a whole new set of planning issues for lawyers who counsel clients at the formation stage in preparing the new LLC’s constitutional documents, including most importantly the operating agreement.

Tom Rutledge (photo right), one of the nation’s leading experts on LLCs and a principal drafter of his home state of Kentucky’s LLC Act among his many other accomplishments and leadership roles in the field of business organizations, recently published an article in the Journal of Passthrough Entities on the hot-button topic of LLC member expulsion with the provocative thesis that counsel need to actively consider and draft operating agreements that authorize forced expulsion of a member under specified circumstances in order to protect the venture’s ongoing activities and viability. The article is entitled “It’s Not Me, It’s You: Planning for Expulsion of LLC Members” and you owe it to yourself to read it here.

The article addresses the statutory backdrop for member expulsion; the grounds for expulsion to consider including in the operating agreement; the voting prerequisites and procedure for effectuating expulsion; the effect of expulsion including buy-out; and judicial review of expulsion decisions.

After reading the article, I asked Tom if he would discuss LLC member expulsion on my Business Divorce Roundtable podcast. I’m happy to report that Tom obliged, and you can hear my interview of Tom by clicking on the link at the bottom of this post.

The interview covers not only LLC member expulsion pursuant to the operating agreement which is the subject of Tom’s article, but also judicial expulsion of LLC members, a topic that recently generated headlines (and a post on this blog) when the New Jersey Supreme Court earlier this month issued its decision in IE Test v Carroll reversing an order of judicial expulsion under that state’s LLC Act. Judicial expulsion is destined to take on greater importance and controversy as more states adopt the Revised Uniform LLC Act which authorizes courts to expel an LLC member at the behest of the company or the other members on grounds involving breach of the operating agreement or other misconduct, or because it’s not reasonably practicable to carry on the business of the LLC with the member whose expulsion is sought.

There’s much more food for thought in Tom’s article and the podcast interview. I urge you to read and listen to both.