Opinion ID: 4164932
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Corporation’s Status as a Separate Entity

Text: ¶22 Might the exculpatory clauses still protect the POA by some other means, though? The court of appeals and trial court thought so, concluding that the POA, DRB, and Executive Board were a single entity, and that by exculpating the boards, the clauses at issue necessarily exculpated the POA. That characterization, however, conflicts with both Colorado law and the clauses’ plain language. To be sure, we have consistently held that a corporation acts only through its agents. E.g., Dallas Creek Water Co. v. Huey, 933 P.2d 27, 41 (Colo. 1997). But this does not mean they are one and the same. Instead, we recognize that while those agents act on behalf of the 9 corporation, the corporation itself is “always a separate entity.”3 Leonard v. McMorris, 63 P.3d 323, 330 (Colo. 2003). We see no reason to depart from these settled principles today. ¶23 The exculpatory clauses’ plain language also indicates that the POA is an entity distinct from the boards. First, the Declaration requires the POA to defend and indemnify the DRB, an unnecessary measure if the two were one and the same. Second, section II.D of the Design Guidelines prevents the POA from holding the DRB liable under certain circumstances. If the two were a single entity, however, the POA would never have cause to hold the DRB liable—its claim would be against itself. ¶24 Applying both our law and the understanding evinced in the Declaration and the Design Guidelines, we conclude the POA, like any other corporation, acts through its boards and other agents but remains a separate entity. The division below therefore erred in concluding the exculpatory clauses limited the POA’s liability simply because they exculpated the boards.