Abuse of Separate Entity lifting the corporate veil Essay

Abuse of Separate Entity lifting the bodily hide - Essay Examplethe liabilities contracted on behalf of the bon ton. Under normal circle the creditors of the caller-up can have recourse for their dues against the assets of the company and they cannot attach the liability to the personal assets of the shareholders. Under certain circumstances it may become necessary for the company to fix up the responsibility on individuals in respect of some liabilities contracted by them on behalf of the company. The exact circumstances under which the courts will pierce the corporate veil as it is technically known, depends on the state laws. However in general under the following circumstances the courts will look beyond the corporate veil phenomenon and provide a remedy to the creditors.Where the circumstances are such that the shareholder has lost the privilege of limited liability and has become liable personally to the creditors. This plaza may arise when the company continued to carry on the business for a period of six months after the number of its members was reduced below the tokenish as prescribed by law with the knowledge of the shareholderUnder the common law courts would allow the lifting of the corporate veil only in cases where the company is a mere facade concealing the true facts, or, in the parlance of earlier cases, a mere sham, Gower,LCB (1992)However the circumstances under which the courts will find such a faade or sham are considered to be very rare. In the case of Woolfson v StratchclydeRegional Council, 1978 SLT 159 at 161the House of Lords observed that the corporate veil can be pierced only where special circumstances exist to indicate that the company is a mere faade concealing true facts. The recent decision of the Court of bring up in China Ocean Shipping Co v Mitrans Shipping Co Ltd, (1995) 3 HKC 123appears to have narrowed the already limited circumstances in which a court will lift the corporate veil. Following the ruling of this ca se if a person uses the corporate veil to cheer him from legal liability prior to the arising of the legal obligation then the corporate veil will not be pierced. On the contrary if the person uses the corporate veil to protect him after the legal obligation is established then the corporat