Alter ego/separateness litigation is sought to breach the defendant’s corporate structure in order to obtain access to the financial or other resources of the defendant’s subsidiaries. In order to determine separateness or “pierce the corporate veil,” the plaintiff is generally required to prove that the corporate form was ignored, controlled or manipulated to an extent that it was merely the alter ego of another person or entity and that the misuse of the corporate form would constitute a fraud or used to promote injustice.
This webcast will cover the three elements that courts look to in order to determine separateness: (1) the corporation is substantially controlled or manipulated by another; (2) the control was or will be misused to commit fraud or promote injustice and (3) the claimant suffered or will suffer injury as a result. We will also discuss factors that indicate whether affiliated companies should be treated as a single entity including:
- Undercapitalization;
- Fraudulent representation by corporation’s shareholders or directors;
- Use of the corporation to promote fraud, injustice or illegal activities;
- Commingling of assets and affairs;
- Failure to observe required corporate formalities;
- Other shareholder acts or conduct ignoring, controlling, or manipulating the corporate form
- Existence of common officers, directors, and employees;
In addition, this webcast will provide legal and accounting perspectives on determining separateness or piercing the corporate veil and will cover:
- Need for accounting expertise and issues to examine from an accounting perspective;
- Evidentiary basis and the federal rules of evidence;
- Permitted Uses including accounting expertise and expert opinions;
- Cases where alter-ego claim was made; and
- A hypothetical case study.
Please join panelists Neil Gray, a partner with the law firm Reed Smith, and Jeff Litvak and Clara Chin, both of FTI Consulting’s Forensic and Litigation Consulting practice, as they address these issues and your questions in this free webcast.
To attend this webcast (the live version is scheduled for scheduled for Wednesday, May 25 at 1 pm Eastern), please register below.
