I’ve been getting calls from a collection agencey recently that I have a $7000 OSHA citation to pay from a dissolved company that hasn’t been in business for almost 5 yrs. Do I need to be concerned. The company has been administratively dissolved and my secretary of state says that’s considered “Legelly Dissolved” It was an LLC
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Ask you're "secretary of state".
Ask you're "secretary of state". That seems to be your legal advisor of choice whereas most other respnsible folks get their legal advice from a licensed attorney.
concerned? yes
If I were you, I'd be concerned. Doesn't mean I think you're legally liable. But if I recieved a letter like that I'd be concerned.
The typical claim chain is OSHA tries to claim directly. If they can't then they may send it to a collection agency. If they can't claim then they may send it to the IRS.
I'd nip it in the bud. Find out if you are legally liable. If you are liable, start negotiating. If you're not legally liable, then end the collection process now before it goes further.
An LLC does not neccessarily protect you from all claims against your company. In most cases an LLC will. But the government has stepped past the protection of an LLC and gone after principals when they think something shifty was going on.
Tell them to quit calling you and put it in writing.
First off, did you really have an OSHA violation? If you're sure you didn't then the collection agency is committing fraud and should be reported to the AG and others.
If you did have the violation, however, getting out of government fines is a bit harder than shedding creditors in a bankruptcy or whatever, so you may want to seek legal advice (or negotate a settlement). (If they want $7000 they'd likely settle for $3K or so. Just make sure that whatever settlement you make is really a settlement and not just an obscurely worded "partial payment".