Under New York law, a corporation exists as a separate legal entity independent of its owners and therefore the owners are not normally liable for the debts of the corporation. Indeed, “it is perfectly legal to incorporate for the express purpose of limiting the liability of the corporate owners.”1
However, courts will intervene in limited circumstances to “pierce the corporate veil” and thereby hold the owner of a corporation responsible for an obligation of the corporation.2 New York courts are generally hesitant to pierce the corporate veil and plaintiffs “bear a heavy burden of showing that the corporation was dominated as to the transaction attacked and that such domination was the instrument of fraud or otherwise resulted in wrongful or inequitable consequences.”3
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