Forum Discussion
Campfire Time wrote:
laknox wrote:
That's terrible. Be interesting to see if any of the owners can be held personally responsible. IIRC, if there's any hint of negligence, it could pierce the veil of corp. liability protection, and open up the owners and managers to civil liability.
Lyle
I think you are right, but only in circumstances where they knowingly turned a blind eye which gives them a measure of responsibility. And then someone has to prove that. So many companies are LLCs now and I think that's how they are protected. It would be interesting if we had a lawyer here who could weigh in.
Lawyer here, and that's not how it works. Veil piercing has more to do with whether or not the corporate form was respected, not so much to do with the degree of negligence with respect to how the entity acted. So it would be more about whether the entity was inadequately capitalized, was set up as a sham or in furtherance of fraud or other wrongdoing, there was commingling of assets between the entity and owners or other failures to follow corp. formalities, etc.
If you could pierce the veil just because an entity or its employees acted negligently, it would gut the whole concept of limited liability.laknox wrote:
That's terrible. Be interesting to see if any of the owners can be held personally responsible. IIRC, if there's any hint of negligence, it could pierce the veil of corp. liability protection, and open up the owners and managers to civil liability.
Lyle
I think you are right, but only in circumstances where they knowingly turned a blind eye which gives them a measure of responsibility. And then someone has to prove that. So many companies are LLCs now and I think that's how they are protected. It would be interesting if we had a lawyer here who could weigh in.Bionic Man wrote:
Terrible story. I wonder how much money the families will get, regardless of appeal. Not sure if it is by state or national, but there was just a news story in Colorado surrounding the major accident that shut down I70 and killed multiple people. It stated that the trucking company that was involved (caused) the accident only had something like $750,000 in liability insurance as that was all that is required.
That's terrible. Be interesting to see if any of the owners can be held personally responsible. IIRC, if there's any hint of negligence, it could pierce the veil of corp. liability protection, and open up the owners and managers to civil liability.
Lyle- Terrible story. I wonder how much money the families will get, regardless of appeal. Not sure if it is by state or national, but there was just a news story in Colorado surrounding the major accident that shut down I70 and killed multiple people. It stated that the trucking company that was involved (caused) the accident only had something like $750,000 in liability insurance as that was all that is required.
- I'm sure that if we keep an eye on this story we'll learn that the jury award will be contested and the amount reduced. BTW, the RV transport industry is so hurting for drivers (pay is extremely low) they'll hire almost anyone.
- Anyone else picturing Clark Griswold in Christmas Vacation? Sad though...stupid actions with a sad outcome.
2edgesword wrote:
Stupidity cost lives.
True. But, that was beyond stupid.laknox wrote:
http://www.landlinemag.com/Story.aspx?StoryID=74237#.XOP9RlJKi01
Lyle
Stupidity cost lives.
