Complaint Sufficiently Alleged Facts to Support Piercing the Corporate Veil

In a full-fledged opinion by Justice Mazzarelli (which dealt with many corporation law issues not mentioned here), the First Department determined the complaint alleged sufficient facts to meet the criteria for piercing the corporate veil:

To make out a cause of action for liability on the theory of piercing the corporate veil because the corporation at issue is the defendant’s alter ego, the complaining party must, above all, establish that the owners of the entity, through their domination of it, abused the privilege of doing business in the corporate form to perpetrate a wrong or injustice against the party asserting the claim such that a court in equity will intervene … . Piercing of the corporate veil is not a cause of action independent of that against the corporation; it is established when the facts and circumstances compel a court to impose the corporate obligation on its owners, who are otherwise shielded from liability… . “Because a decision whether to pierce the corporate veil in a given instance will necessarily depend on the attendant facts and equities, the New York cases may not be reduced to definitive rules governing the varying circumstances when the power may be exercised” … . Indeed, this Court has observed:  “In determining the question of control, courts have considered factors such as the disregard of corporate formalities; inadequate capitalization; intermingling of funds; overlap in ownership, officers, directors and personnel; common office space or telephone numbers; the degree of discretion demonstrated by the alleged dominated corporation; whether the corporations are treated as independent profit centers; and the payment or guarantee of the corporation’s debts by the dominating entity . . . [n]o one factor is dispositive”… .   Tap Holdings LLC v Orix Fin Corp, 2013 NY Slip Op 05293, 1st Dept 7-16-13