Delaware relents: ‘Illegal Pete’s’ can use its sketchy name

DOVER, Del. – Colorado-based restaurant chain Illegal Pete’s has won a court fight with Delaware officials over their refusal to accept its conversion to a Delaware limited liability company because the company’s name has “a negative connotation.”

Attorneys for the Division of Corporations indicated in a recent court filing that the agency had reversed course and filed the restaurant company’s certificates of conversion and formation to become a Delaware LLC.

A spokesman for the agency said that its attorneys had concluded that previous guidance relied upon to justify internal evaluations of new entity names was no longer defensible in light of recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings.

As a result, Illegal Pete’s LLC was registered in Delaware on July 8.

State officials also have promulgated new, more narrowly tailored regulations regarding business entity names.