Is piercing the corporate veil an equitable remedy?

Is piercing the corporate veil an equitable remedy?

Even when a business has created a limited liability company or a corporation in an effort to decrease or eliminate personal liability of shareholders and partners, those shareholder or partners can still be considered personally liable under a theory called “piercing the corporate veil.” Piercing the corporate veil is …

Can you pierce the corporate veil of an LLC in Texas?

Limiting personal liability is one of the most defining aspects of a corporation or LLC, and can shield shareholders, directors, or officers from the debts and liabilities of a business. As is well known in Texas, the corporate veil can be pierced.

Is piercing the corporate veil a separate cause of action?

“[A]n action to pierce the corporate veil is not a separate and independent cause of action, but rather is merely a procedure to enforce an underlying judgment.” Thus, without an underlying liability, there is no basis for piercing the veil of limited liability.

What happens when a court pierces the corporate veil?

If a court pierces a company’s corporate veil, the owners, shareholders, or members of a corporation or LLC can be held personally liable for corporate debts. This means creditors can go after the owners’ home, bank account, investments, and other assets to satisfy the corporate debt.

In what circumstances is the corporate veil lifted?

The following are the instances in which the corporate veil can be lifted. 1. When Company tries to avoid Legal Obligations: When the corporate personality is used to avoid any legal obligation, the Court can disregard the legal personality and can identify with its members.

What are 4 circumstances that might persuade a court to pierce the corporate veil?

(1) compete with the corporation, or otherwise usurp (take personal advantage of) a corporate opportunity, (2) have an undisclosed interest that conflicts with the corporation’s interest in a particular transaction, Directors and officers must fully disclose even a potential conflict of interest.

Is it hard to pierce the corporate veil?

This legal structure creates an entity separate from the individual. It is expensive and difficult to pierce the corporate veil and get a judgment against the individual behind the company.

When can the court lift the corporate veil?

Avoiding a legal obligation The Court may lift the veil if the company concerned is ‘using’ the veil to avoid fulfilling legal obligations. For example, if a company owes a creditor money but transfers their assets to another entity to avoid payment, the Court can lift the veil.

When can a court pierce the corporate veil?

In general, creditors have no recourse against corporate shareholders, as long as formalities are satisfied. When, however, the corporation is fraudulently created to escape liability, then creditors may pierce the corporate veil.

How do you stop piercing the corporate veil?

5 steps for maintaining personal asset protection and avoiding piercing the corporate veil

1. Undertaking necessary formalities.
2. Documenting your business actions.
3. Don’t comingle business and personal assets.
4. Ensure adequate business capitalization.
5. Make your corporate or LLC status known.

What is meant by lifting the corporate veil?

Lifting of Corporate veil: It refers to the situation where a shareholder is held liable for its corporation’s debts despite the rule of limited liability and/of separate personality. The veil doctrine is invoked when shareholders blur the distinction between the corporation and the shareholders.

What is reverse piercing the corporate veil?

A reverse pierce of the corporate veil refers to an attempt by shareholders, or the corporation itself, to pierce the corporate veil existing between the corporation and its shareholders.

What is doctrine of alter ego?

Alter ego is the doctrine which prevents the stakeholders of the corporation, i.e., shareholders and directors from taking the refuge of doctrine of separate legal entity.

What is the purpose of corporate veil?

The human ingenuity however started using the veil of corporate personality blatantly as a cloak for fraud or improper conduct. Thus it became necessary for the Courts to break through or lift the corporate veil and look at the persons behind the company who are the real beneficiaries of the corporate fiction.

Why is the Corporate Veil important?

The “corporate veil” metaphorically symbolises the distinction between the company as a separate legal entity and the shareholders who own the shares in the company. Lifting the veil can be used to impose liability upon the shareholders or for other purposes, such as ascertaining appropriate jurisdiction.

What is the Salomon principle?

According to the doctrine, once a company is incorporated, it would be regarded as a ‘separate legal entity’. Meaning, a company and its members would not be regarded as being conjoined but disjoined instead. And the member’s liability in the company would be limited which then brings the concept of limited liability.

What is the one man company argument?

It was the ‘one-man company’ case, in that it concerned the limited liability status of a business owned and managed by a single individual prior to incorporation (see [Comment] 1896, 1897).

What is the rule in Salomon vs Salomon?

The principle of separate corporate personality has been firmly established in the common law since the decision in the case of Salomon v Salomon & Co Ltd[1], whereby a corporation has a separate legal personality, rights and obligations totally distinct from those of its shareholders.

What is the significance of Salomon v Salomon?

The ‘rigid construct’ of company law, Salomon v A Salomon, established a century-old principle, that is, the separate juristic personality of a corporation, out of which ‘the legal structure of modern business’ was born; and, the so called corporate veil remains unchallenged.

Which legal principle came out of Salomon vs Salomon case?

Section 15 of the Companies Act 1993 (“Act”) states that a company has a legal personality in its own right and is separate from its shareholders. This is a principle known as the Salomon principle, originating from the case of Salomon v A Salomon & Co Ltd.

What is the concealment principle?

The concealment principle is simply that the court will look behind a company to see who the real actors are. These considerations reflect the broader principle that the corporate veil may be pierced only to prevent the abuse of corporate legal personality.

What is meant by separate legal personality?

Separate Legal Personality: In short it is a separate legal person – distinct in all respects from the directors and shareholders. The fact that the company is a separate entity means that it has its own responsibilities for debts etc., which cannot be summarily passed on to the shareholders.

Why company has separate legal existence?

A company has a legal, distinct entity and is independent of its members. The creditors of the company can recover their money only from the company and the property of the company. They cannot sue individual members. Shareholders cannot be held liable for the wrongs or misdeeds of the company.

What is the difference between separate legal personality and limited liability?

Separate legal entity means that a company really exists, can sue or be sued in its own name, holds its own property and is liable of the debts it incurred. This concept allows limited liability to shareholders because the debts incurred are for the company not the shareholders in the company.

Does a company have a legal personality?

A company is a separate legal person, distinct from its shareholders and directors. From the date that the company has been registered, it has all the legal powers and capacity of an individual, except to the extent that a juristic person is incapable of exercising any such power or having such capacity.

What is corporate legal personality?

Corporate personality is the fact stated by the law that a company is recognized as a legal entity distinct from its members. A company with such personality is an independent legal existence separate from its shareholders, directors, officers and creators. This is famously known as the veil of incorporation.

Who has legal personality?

The entities with this legal personality include states, international organizations, non‐governmental organizations, and to some limited extent private individuals and corporations within a state.

Can an entity be a person?

An entity is something that exists by itself, although it need not be of material existence. In business, an entity is a person, department, team, corporation, cooperative, partnership, or other group with whom it is possible to conduct business.

What is the difference between entity and individual?

The main difference between Individual and Entity is that the Individual is a person or a specific object and Entity is a something that exists in the identified universe. An individual is that which exists as a distinct entity. The adjectival form is entitative and refers to something considered in its own right.

What is owning entity?

Owning Entity and “Owning Entities” means any Person or Persons, other than Owner, owning a Property, provided that Owner holds, Directly or Indirectly, a Beneficial Interest in such Person or Persons. Reference to the Owning Entities includes each Owning Entity.