It's been reported someone put a video camera under the bathroom sink of a Starbucks located in Washington, DC. The camera was pointed at the toilet, which, of course, is a big no-no. (Toilet Cams are the one thing no employer or retailer may legally install.)

So apparently the entire Starbucks chain is being sued over the inappropriate video camera in this one store.

Now, who in the company's legal department was the brain dead moron who didn't separate each store as a separate LLC or corporation instead of operating them as part of the master corporation?

Had the store been a separate corporation, that's where the liability stops. If an individual separately incorporated store messes up, it's a particular corporation, you can sue that store but you can't sue the owner of the corporation. It's like, if something goes wrong at a McDonalds like a slip and fall, you can sue that store, but you can't sue the franchiser because they aren't liable. The store is a separate legal entity from the franchise company.

It doesn't matter if the owner is the franchiser, the corporation and its owner are separate entities and are not liable for the debts of the other.