Law School Toolbox Podcast Episode 280: Listen and Learn -- Piercing the Corporate Veil
Bar Exam Toolbox Podcast Episode 120: Listen and Learn -- Piercing the Corporate Veil
Reverse piercing attaches liability for the judgment to a corporations’ owners and/or directors because they exercise complete dominion of the business, and such domination was used to commit a fraud against the plaintiff....more
Most business owners understand the need to create an entity to operate their business. However, beyond general knowledge, many owners are unsure of when is the right time to create an entity and which type of entity makes...more
Michael Jackson died in 2009. After his death, two plaintiffs filed complaints against two corporations of which Michael Jackson was the sole shareholder. The trial court sustained the plaintiffs' demurrer setting up...more
Clients often worry if they can be held personally liable for a company in which they have an ownership interest. This is often followed by the question of whether one of their companies can be responsible for the obligation...more
La Cour d’appel de l’Ontario (la « Cour ») a récemment fourni des orientations sur les recours intentés contre les administrateurs dans lesquels la levée du voile de la personnalité morale est demandée, ainsi que sur les...more
By: Jeffrey M. Haber This Blog has previously written about the benefits of forming a corporation or a limited liability corporation and the perils of ignoring the corporate formalities that are attendant thereto. In today’s...more
The Ontario Court of Appeal (Court) recently provided guidance on claims against directors based on relief-seeking to pierce the corporate veil and the oppression remedy. In FNF Enterprises Inc. v. Wag and Train Inc. (FNF),...more
"Outside reverse veil piercing" allows a shareholder's creditor to reach corporate assets. In Postal Instant Press, Inc. v. Kaswa Corp., 162 Cal. App. 4th 1510 (2008), the Fourth District Court of Appeal rejected outside...more
“Piercing the corporate veil” is one of those legal terms that makes a legal action seem more romantic than it really is. When a party to a legal dispute attempts to pierce the corporate veil of a corporate adversary, they...more
No longer simply legal advisers for their respective governors, state attorneys general are increasingly taking an offensive position, bringing lawsuits against companies and executives they accuse of bad conduct. A team of...more
...Normally, a court will treat a business entity and its liabilities as separate and distinct from its owners. The alter ego doctrine allows the corporate veil to be pierced, and results in holding the owners liable for the...more
You have likely heard the term “piercing the veil.” This legal doctrine permits a court to ignore corporate formalities and hold an individual owner liable for a company’s debt. But you may be less familiar with the doctrine...more
The Israeli National Labor Court recently issued a ruling addressing a claim to “lift the corporate veil” in a dispute between two groups of shareholders in a company. The National Labor Court’s ruling did not allow the...more
A complaint filed in federal court will test the boundaries of protection from liability for individuals behind decentralized autonomous organizations. On May 2, 2022, a putative class action was filed in the US District...more
Delaware has long been a preferred jurisdiction for business formation, partly because of its well-developed body of case law with respect to commercial disputes (which makes predicting the outcome of – and thus resolving –...more
In an granting a motion to dismiss a counterclaim for veil-piercing, Chancellor McCormick recently reminded litigators that “veil piercing is a tough thing to plead and a tougher thing to get.” ...more
Normally, a business entity is considered a legal person separate and apart from its individual owners. But when the entity is used by an owner to perpetrate a fraud, circumvent a statute, or accomplish some other wrongful...more
Does Ownership and Management Structure Matter? Fiduciary Relationships - Special confidence placed in one who in equity and good conscience is bound to act in good faith and in due regard to the one reposing confidence....more
In a recent case before the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, the court was faced with the following question: Whether a business owner could be held personally liable for his corporation’s failure to pay taxes. Its answer?...more
A corporation is a separate legal entity. This status normally insulates its owners or shareholders from personal liability for the corporation’s obligations. But Texas law recognizes exceptions to this general rule. ...more
Last week, I took note of the Second District Court of Appeal's decision that allows for the possibility outside veil piercing, Blizzard Energy, Inc. v. Bernd Schaefers, 2021 Cal. App LEXIS 968. Readers may recall that the...more
Reverse veil piercing involves subjecting an entity to the liabilities of its owner. As Professor Bainbridge has noted, there are two types of reverse veil piercing...more
Earlier this year, Houston Harbaugh wrote on the then-pending Pennsylvania Supreme Court case of Mortimer v. McCool, which presented the question of whether the Court would adopt the “enterprise” or “single entity” theory of...more
Recently, the Delaware Court of Chancery (the “Court”), expanded the potential liability of a parent company’s subsidiaries by allowing reverse veil-piercing in Manichaean Cap., LLC. v. Exela Techs., Inc., C.A. No....more
Creative attempts to ‘pierce the corporate veil’ sometimes come before the Courts of Bermuda, the British Virgin Islands, and the Cayman Islands. In some cases, an attempt is made to establish personal liability on the...more