Texas Closes Door on Ederer Liability to Other Partners in LLPs

In Ederer v. Gursky, 9 N.Y.3d 514, 881 N.E.2d 204, 851 N.Y.S.2d 108, 2007 N.Y. Slip Op. 09960 (2007), the New York Court of Appeals interpreted the New York LLP shield to allow claims by partners for breach of obligations of other partners, or of the partnership.  See my earlier post, Liability of LLP partners To Each Other

Section 47 of Senate Bill 1442 amends Section 152.801(a) of the Texas Business Organizations Code to read as follows:

     (a) Except as provided by Subsection (b) or the partnership agreement, a partner in a limited liability partnership is not personally liable to any person, including a partner, directly or indirectly, by contribution, indemnity, or otherwise, for a debt or obligation of the partnership incurred while the partnership is a limited liability partnership.

Oddly, the Legislature chose to add "or the partnership agreement" to the introductory exception.  Like the RUPA, Texas has a central provision regarding partner autonomy and its limits.  TBOC ยง 152.002.  While the Legislature may have felt a "belt and suspenders" approach was necessary to catch the attention of the courts, it seems bad policy to start dropping in references to the partnership agreement.

posted by Gary Rosin

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