Piercing and Protecting the Corporate Veil and Alter Ego Liability (2024 Edition)

Nelson C. Bellido | ROIG Lawyers

Nelson Bellido is the managing partner of the Miami office of Roig Lawyers – a Florida statewide law firm with offices in Jacksonville, Orlando, Tampa, Deerfield Beach, West Palm Beach, and Miami. He chairs the Business Litigation Practice Group. Nelson is an accomplished first-chair trial lawyer with 31 years of experience in state, federal and arbitration tribunals.

His main areas of practice are in complex commercial litigation, products liability, insurance defense, finance law, and premises liability defense. Nelson represents clients on a local, state, national and international scale in a range of individual and corporate disputes, including defending and prosecuting disputes related to fraud, RICO, TCPA, ADA, warranty claims, unfair and deceptive trade practices, and trade secret matters.

He often lectures on a variety of legal topics, including litigation techniques and serves annually as a visiting lecturer at Duke University Law School. Nelson can be reached at [email protected].

Mishell B. Kneeland | Culhane Meadows Haughian & Walsh PLLC

Mishell Kneeland is a commercial and employment litigator with more than two decades of experience representing clients in state and federal courts across the country. She has tried dozens of cases to verdict and has successfully obtained judgment for her clients on motions to dismiss and for summary judgment.

One of Mishell’s key skills is conducting early assessment to evaluate risk and determine whether her client’s goals are best served by crafting a solution outside of the courtroom or taking a case to trial. In addition to working in private practice, Mishell has served as an Assistant Attorney General for the State of Texas and an Assistant City Attorney for the City of Austin.

Mishell frequently serves as a faculty member for the National Institute of Trial Advocacy’s Trial Skills and Deposition Skills courses, served as an Adjunct Professor of Trial Simulation at Texas Southern University’s Thurgood Marshall School of Law, and is very active in the National Association of Minority and Women Owned Law Firms.

Sandy L. Morris | Valentine Austriaco & Bueschel, P.C.

A partner in the certified women-owned Chicago firm of Valentine Austriaco & Bueschel, P.C., Sandy litigates complex business disputes and represents employers in cases involving restrictive covenants and alleged discrimination and retaliation. In addition to her active litigation practice, she assists employers with workplace investigations into discrimination and harassment complaints and potential violations of other corporate policies. She also regularly provides real-time employment counseling, assisting with implementation of best practices in hiring, discipline, and termination decisions and crafting effective and compliant employment policies. Sandy is a member of the Northern District of Illinois Trial Bar.

James R. Mozingo | Mozingo | Quarles, PLLC

James R. Mozingo is the managing member of MOZINGO|QUARLES, PLLC, headquartered in Jackson, Mississippi, where he has practiced for over 40 years. Jim is an AV, peer rated, lawyer in the Martindale-Hubbell listings and for a number of years has been found in the listings of Mid-South Super Lawyers.

A Fellow of the Mississippi Bar Foundation, in 2011 the Mississippi Business Journal named Jim as one of Mississippi’s 50 Leading Attorneys. A 1975 graduate of Washington & Lee University, he received his Juris Doctor “with distinction” from Mississippi College School of Law in 1978, serving as Associate Editor of the Mississippi College Law Review. Mozingo is a former member and of the Mississippi Board of Bar Admissions, examining in the fields of business organizations and bankruptcy, also serving on various committees with the National Conference of Bar Examiners.

Jim focuses his practice on business and commercial transactions and in the areas of business and commercial litigation, bankruptcy and debtor/creditor relations. Jim has handled a wide variety of transactions throughout the South and in various other parts of the country, as well as in Canada, Italy and Spain and with companies in the Far East. He has appeared in state and Federal courts throughout Mississippi and in Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Tennessee and Texas, as well as handling significant commercial arbitration proceedings in St. Louis, Atlanta, Nashville and Knoxville.

Session I – Mastering Corporate Veil Dynamics: Strategies, Governance, and Legal Precedents | 12:00pm – 1:00pm

• What is corporate veil protection? | 12:00pm – 12:10pm
• The process of piercing & protecting the corporate veil – using the Alter Ego Theory & Common Factors | 12:10pm – 12:20pm
• Best corporate governance practices to avoid a claim to “pierce the corporate veil” | 12:20pm – 12:30pm
• Revisiting seminal case Mortimer v. McCool -the adoption of the enterprise theory and impact on other courts’ view of corporate veil piercing | 12:30pm – 12:40pm
• Segal v. Forastero – how a trial court ruled in favor of a jilted seller and pierced the corporate veil, but the appellate court overturned the ruling | 12:40pm – 12:50pm
• Lessons Learned – Other Key Cases that the Business Lawyer can learn from | 12:50pm – 1:00pm

Break | 1:00pm – 1:10pm

Session II – Strategic Maneuvers: Navigating Corporate Veil Limits and Liabilities | 1:10pm -2:50pm

• Ways to limit corporate veil liability | 1:10pm – 1:40pm
• Detailed guidance on piercing the corporate veil under the single business enterprise theory | 1:40pm – 2:10pm

Break | 2:10pm – 2:20pm

• The increased potential liability for related businesses | 2:20pm – 2:35pm
• The expanded circumstances under which the court may disregard the corporate form | 2:35pm – 2:50pm