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
In deciding whether to impose alter ego liability with respect to a limited liability company, a federal court has several possible choices. It could apply the law of the state of formation of the LLC, it could apply the...more
Unionized employers participating in an underfunded multiemployer pension plan face significant financial exposure when withdrawing (completely or partially) from the plan. The cost (called “withdrawal liability”) is...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
"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
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
In a decision published on Wednesday, the California Court of Appeal held that a defendant's due process rights do not protect the sole shareholder of a corporation from an alter ego action. Lopez v. Escamilla, Cal. Ct....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
The Bullet Point is a biweekly update of recent, unique, and impactful cases in state and federal courts in the area of commercial litigation. We’re pleased to expand the Bullet Point from its previous coverage of Ohio case...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
In an opinion issued last week, U.S. District Court Edward M. Chen ruled that Ohio law applied to an alter ego claim against the members of an Ohio limited liability company. Greenlight Sys., LLC v. Breckenfelder, 2021 U.S....more
One of the essential purposes of forming an entity and conducting business through that entity is to limit the owners’ personal liability. California law generally views the entity and its owners as separate and legally...more
The “alter ego” doctrine allows a creditor of a business entity to “pierce the corporate veil” and enforce the debt against the company’s individual owners. The standards for proving alter ego liability are high, and the...more
Welcome back to the Law School Toolbox podcast! Today, we have another episode in our "Listen and Learn" series, where we review a substantive area of the law and apply that law to fact patterns. This time we're looking at...more
Welcome back to the Bar Exam Toolbox podcast! Today, we have another episode in our "Listen and Learn" series, where we review a substantive area of the law and apply that law to fact patterns. This time we're looking at...more
I find Judge Cynthia Bashant's recent ruling in Platypus Wear, Inc. v. Bad Boy Europe, Ltd., U.S. Dist. Case No. 16-cv-02751-BAS-BSM (Jan. 23, 2020), to be curious in in several respects. Judge Bashant ruling was on the...more
A recent case in a North Dakota district court is a reminder to private equity funds and managers that, under certain conditions, they may be held responsible for actions of a fund’s portfolio companies. Courts allow...more
“Piercing the corporate veil” — also referred to as “alter ego” liability — is a familiar concept under California law. Ordinarily, a corporation or other entity (such as an LLC) is considered a legal entity separate and...more