Opinion ID: 2537285
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Legislative Intent With Regard to the Rights of a Judgment Creditor of a Member

Text: I understand the policy concerns of the FTC and the majority with the inherent problems in the transferability of both governance and economic interests under the LLC Act because the plain language does not contemplate the impact of a judgment creditor seeking to obtain the entire membership interest of a single-member LLC and to obtain the ability to liquidate the assets of the LLC. The Florida statute simply does not create a different mechanism for obtaining the assets of a single-member LLC as opposed to a multimember LLC and, therefore, there is no room in the statutory language for different rules. However, I decline to join in rewriting the statute with inferences and implications, which is the approach adopted by the majority. This Court generally avoids judicial invention, as accomplished by the majority, when the statute may be construed under the plain language of the relevant legislative act. See Bishop & Kleinberger, supra, ¶ 1.04[3][d]. In construing a statute, we strive to effectuate the Legislature's intent by considering first the statute's plain language. See Kasischke v. State, 991 So.2d 803, 807 (Fla.2008) (citing Borden v. East-European Ins. Co., 921 So.2d 587, 595 (Fla.2006)). When, as it is here, the statute is clear and unambiguous, we do not look behind the statute's plain language for legislative intent or resort to rules of statutory construction to ascertain intent. Daniels v. Fla. Dep't of Health, 898 So.2d 61, 64 (Fla.2005). This is especially applicable in the instance of a business entity created solely by state statute. If the statute had been written as the majority suggests here, I would agree with the result requested by the FTC. However, the underlying conclusion lacks statutory support. By reading only self-selected provisions of the statute to support this result, the majority disregards the remainder of the LLC Act, which destroys the isolated premise that the charging order provision only applies to multimember LLCs and that other statutory restrictions do not exist. Additionally, exceptions not found within the statute cannot simply be read into the statute, as the majority does by holding that single-member LLCs are an implicit exception to the charging order provision. The remedy provided to the FTC by the federal district court and approved by the majority in this instancethat a judgment creditor of a single-member LLC is entitled to receive a surrender and transfer of the full right, title, and interest of the judgment debtor and to liquidate the LLC assetsis not provided for under the plain language of the LLC Act without judicially writing an exception into the statute.