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I’m the socially-conscious consumer that regulators and NGOs think about when they write disclosure legislation like the Dodd-Frank conflict minerals law that I discussed last week. I drive a hybrid, spend too much money at Whole Foods for sustainable, locally-farmed, ethically-sourced goods, make my own soda at home so I minimize impacts to the environment with cans and plastic bottles, and love to use the canvas bags I get at conferences when I shop at the grocery store. As I (tongue in cheek) pat myself on the back for all the good I hope to do in the world, I realize that I may be a huge hypocrite. I know from my research that consumers generally tell survey takers that they want ethically sourced goods, but they in fact buy on quality, price, and convenience.

I thought about that research when I read the New York Times expose and CEO Jeff Bezos’ response about Amazon’s work environment. As a former defense-side employment lawyer and BigLaw associate for many years, I wasn’t in any way surprised by the allegations (and I have no reason to believe they are either true or false). I have both provided legal defenses and lived…

I know I am Johnny One Note on this, but while researching another project, I decided to check again if litigators (and courts) are still referring to veil piercing of LLCs as “corporate veil piercing.” As I have noted before, for LLCs, it should be “piercing the LLC veil” or, more generally, “piercing the limited liability veil.”  Or “PLLV,” as I like to call it. (Not as catchy is “PCV,” but it is far more universally accurate.)

Sure enough, last week, a New York court refused to denied the defendants’ motion to dismiss the plaintiff’s third amended complaint, deciding that “Plaintiff has adequately pled facts sufficient to defeat the Individual Defendant’s motion to dismiss Plaintiff’s claim for piercing the corporate veil.” Capital Inv. Funding, LLC v. Lancaster Grp. LLC, No. CIV.A. 8-4714 JLL, 2015 WL 4915464, at *7 (D.N.J. Aug. 18, 2015).  But Plaintiff is seeking to piercing the veil of an LLC.  As such, I think they need a fourth amended complaint.  

Also last week, in an unpublished opinion, a Minnesota court upheld a decision to pierce the limited liability veil of Alpha Law Firm, LLC.  The court found the court below “did not abuse its discretion…