Can I be sued by my defunct corporation's creditors?

Yes, you can be personally liable for corporate debts, if you are not careful.

When a business is failing, the members of the board of directors owe fiduciary duties to the corporation's creditors. Thus, if the board approves the distribution of cash or assets to the shareholders, the creditors can sue the board members personally up to the amount of the distribution.

So, for example, let's say that you have a single member S-corporation. To save the hassle of setting up payroll, and to save employment taxes, you pay yourself a "dividend" instead of a salary. If you pay that dividend instead of paying the corporation's creditors, the creditors can sue you personally for the amounts you paid.

So, be careful, and structure it right from the beginning!

Will a corporation or LLC protect me from liability?

One important aspect to keep in mind is that a corporation (or LLC) will not protect you from liabilities for your own actions! So, operating a personal training business through an LLC won't prevent you from being sued personally if you drop the weights on your client. There may be other advantages to doing so, depending on your circumstances, but liability protection for torts asserted against you isn't one of them.

But, suppose business is great and your hire a second personal trainer to handle a few clients. And that individual drops a weight on a client's foot and breaks it. The client can sue your company, and even the trainer that dropped the weight, but can't sue you personally. Of course, it's never that simple... a creative lawyer might allege that you failed to properly train or instruct the trainer, and it was that failure that caused him to drop the weight on the client's foot. But, absent those types of allegations or circumstances, your LLC has provided the liability protection you hoped it would.

Must employers tolerate medical marijuana use?

Marijuana has been legal for medicinal purposes in California since 1996. But only since Obama changed Federal policy and stopped raids and prosecutions for state sanctioned medical marijuana use has the popularity of this once illegal drug flourished. But what are your rights as an employer? If you fire an employee for testing positive for marijuana, are you going to get sued? Must an employer provide "accommodation" for employees using marijuana pursuant to a doctor's prescription?

Fortunately, the California Supreme Court has held that the Compassionate Use Act of 1996 does not give medical marijuana users protection under the Fair Employment and Housing Act. Employers can rely on this precedent to require employees submit to drug test, and are not required to provide accommodations to those who use medical marijuana.