More on the Nature of Sole Proprietorships and the Filing of Certificates of Assumed Name

More on the Nature of Sole Proprietorships and the Filing of Certificates of Assumed Name

      Previously I reviewed the decision of the Kentucky Supreme Court in Sparkman d/b/a In-Depth Sanitary Service Group v. Console Energy, Inc. (Ky. Aug. 20, 2015).  Therein, I reviewed the Kentucky Supreme Court's excellent discussion of the nature of a sole proprietorship. Here is a link to that earlier review.  I did note, however, a small “quibble” with the opinion and its suggestion that a sole proprietor files a certificate of assumed name with the Secretary of State.  Rather, so proprietorship's file a certificate of assumed name only with the County Clerk.

     Last week (and let me be clear that I make no claim of causation), the Kentucky Supreme Court issued an amended opinion in this case.  While I have not done a comprehensive comparison of the two decisions in order to identify any other changes made between the original and the correct decisions, on page 13 of the slip opinion, it now provides that:

To operate under an assumed name, Kentucky Revised Statute (KRS) 365.015(3) stipulates that a sole proprietor must first file a certificate of the assumed name with the “County Clerk where the person maintains his or her principal place of business.”