In my area, there really was not and is not alot of slip'n falls in the first place, but they do and even ligitametly occur. I have been threaten maybe a dozen times, for various issues, but never had a tenant file, not even a counter claim.
Service providers are another issue not brought up much here. The guy that comes in and says he will fix a window and breaks the trim, scars the wall, scuffs up the floor and knocks down the mail box with his ladder. Then, when you run him off, he gets ticked and wants to file suit against you......no big deal!
It really depends on what you do and how you conduct your business. I have never really had any large issue arising from property ownership. Lending liability is ten times what landlord liability could be. I never lost a dime lending, not that some didn't try, and rarely did I need an attorney (not that I'm Clarence Darrow, but you learn to compromise).
I can't say that my LLCs ever swayed anyone from picking a fight.
As a Creditors' Representative in Bankruptcy Court, I have seen properties go to a forced sale many times, even made claims to equities, but the fact that they were held in a one person or family LLC made no difference as the company itself could be liquidated.
I know one of the slickest (if that's what you'd call him) guys around, a surveyor/engineer and business owner who held several properties. Real messy law suit went on for years. He couldn't ever find the Stock Certificate to "his" corporation and claimed it was owned by other investors he had never met, didn't even know all of them, his attorney didn't know either. After the dust settled, a couple years later, the assets were sold and (rolled over) to another company.
Another guy, a builder was sued more often than David Letterman tells a joke. He used the same tactic I did, one LLC for a certain function with it owing money to another LLC. Any roof problems stayed in the roof company, any foundation problem went to the foundation and flat works company, but they were all in debt. While he always made good on any actual loss, not one really got anything out of him.
I think the asset protection schemes sold to people of modest means are done so by the aattorneys who draft them, usually unnecessary. It's the same ploy used by insurance agenst selling liability coverage.....oh look, another multi-million dollar corporate loss froma product liability suit or mistreatment of employees, hiring practices....no one ever stops and asks, do I do that kind of thing or do I have people working for me where that could happen????? Probably not.
I have insurance, if I go hunting with Cheney, if he shoots me or I shoot him, I'm covered, I have liability coverage, same with my vehicles, properties and business interests. I don't really have to rely on defending my actions based on how my companies are structured.
