Opinion ID: 2216436
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: walker enterprises, inc.

Text: By /s/ Patrick H. Mueller, Pres. Patrick H. Mueller, President By /s/ Steven R. Dean, V. Pres. Steven R. Dean, Vice-President /s/ Dennis P. Walker Dennis P. Walker Mueller and Dean contend that they should not have been held personally liable because they signed this agreement in their official capacities as agents of a corporation. We agree. Generally, a corporation's officers and directors are not liable to the corporation's creditors or third persons for corporate acts or debts, simply by reason of an official relation with the corporation. Hecker v. Ravenna Bank, 237 Neb. 810, 468 N.W.2d 88 (1991). A corporation's officers and directors are in the same position as agents of private individuals and are not personally liable on a corporation's contract unless the corporate officers and directors purport to bind themselves, or have bound themselves, to performance of the contract. Id. In the case at bar, Mueller and Dean affixed their signatures to the consulting agreement with the intent of binding WEI, not themselves; this conclusion is evidenced by the listing of the corporation's name above their names; the term by appearing before their signatures, which indicates that they are acting on behalf of another person or entity (in this case, WEI); and their official titles, which appear after both their signatures and their typed names. Therefore, because Mueller and Dean were merely acting in their capacities as agents of the corporation, and not in their individual capacities, they are not personally liable to Walker under the consulting agreement, and inclusion of the conjunction and in the recital does not make it so. As a result, the district court erred in holding them personally liable under that consulting agreement. The judgment of the district court is affirmed in part, and in part reversed and remanded with directions to dismiss. AFFIRMED IN PART, AND IN PART REVERSED AND REMANDED WITH DIRECTIONS TO DISMISS.