Opinion ID: 1695890
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Liability of Milton Nash, individually, for the Shasco debt.

Text: ¶ 16. The trial court found Milton Nash personally liable, indicating that Nash was manipulating the corporations for his benefit and to Shasco's detriment. The evidence presented at trial could reasonably lead to the conclusion that: Nash was controlling all the corporate entities involved; he was not forthcoming to any-one about the actual corporate dealings that were going on; he led Turner and others to believe that A.C.T. was being acquired by Nash Plumbing; he secured the benefit from the use of Shasco's products without the intention to pay for them; and subsequently hid behind the dubious corporate agreements that he was instrumental in preparing in order to avoid liability. Nevertheless, Shasco clearly failed to make sufficiently particularized allegations demonstrating the applicability of the veil piercing doctrine to the facts of the case. See N. Am. Plastics, Inc., v. Inland Shoe Mfg. Co., 592 F.Supp. 875, 879 (N.D.Miss.1984). Shasco failed to plead that the court should pierce the corporate veil of either corporation. Additionally, Shasco provides no case law for the proposition that Milton Nash or Tommy Turner, as individuals should be held liable for the debt of any corporation under any other theory. ¶ 17. A fundamental principle of corporate law is that shareholders are not liable for the obligations of the corporation. Robert B. Thompson, Piercing the Corporate Veil: An Empirical Study, 76 Cornell L.Rev. 1036, 1039 (1991). Courts do not take piercing of the corporate veil lightly because of the chilling effect it has on corporate risk-taking. Highway Dev. Co. v. Miss. State Highway Comm'n, 343 So.2d 477, 480 (Miss.1977). The record before us holds too many unknowns and too many contradictions for this Court to uphold the piercing of the Nash Plumbing corporate veil to hold Milton Nash personally liable.