Piercing the Corporate Veil in New York: A Primer

Corporations and other business entities are created by entrepreneurs to run their businesses and, importantly, shield themselves from personal liability. The corporate shield or corporate veil describes the separation of a business entity from its shareholder owners. A court will pierce that corporate veil, and hold the shareholder owners liable for the obligations of a business entity, if those shareholder owners have defrauded or otherwise wronged third parties doing business with that entity. But plaintiffs seeking to pierce that corporate veil often find that the factual evidence required creates such a high bar that the remedy can seem out of reach. In this course, attorney Robert J. Ansell covers the essential features of veil-piercing litigation, as well as issues of strategy, forum selection, and timing that should be considered by any would-be veil piercer.

Learning Objectives:

1. Familiarize yourself with the fundamentals of piercing the corporate veil in New York
2. Explore why the strategic decision to seek veil piercing may not always depend entirely upon the likelihood of success on the merits
3. Review the various choices plaintiffs seeking veil piercing must make, including forum and the best timing for asserting the claim
4. Discuss nuanced issues related to veil piercing, such as "reverse piercing"