Opinion ID: 1542334
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Background/Standing Issue

Text: In its fourth amended complaint, the Raleigh Estate sued the Atlanta Corporation, the appellees, and others to quiet title to certain real property in the District of Columbia, which it contended that the decedent owned at the time of his death, but had recorded in the name of the Atlanta Corporation. [2] The complaint stated that the properties were subject to deeds of trust held by appellees, Ana Mitchell and Aida Bastida, and that the trustees on one or more of the deeds of trust were Lawrence Mitchell, Richard Bruce Mitchell and C. Barry Mitchell. The estate alleged that foreclosure sales related to the properties were defective or improper and should be set aside. It also asserted that the Atlanta Corporation's corporate charter had been revoked and that its registered agent was deceased. Appellees filed a motion for summary judgment in which they acknowledged as undisputed that the subject real property was titled in the name of Atlanta Corporation, noted that the estate did not claim to be subrogated to the corporation's position, and argued that the estate had no claim to the properties or any cause of action pertaining to them. They also filed the supporting affidavit of Lawrence Mitchell, a professional title examiner, in which he averred that: he had handled several real property transactions for Atlanta Corporation in which Leonard Raleigh acted as agent or officer of the corporation in the 1980s and 1990s; that Raleigh provided him with a copy of Atlanta's Articles of Incorporation, which Mitchell verified were on file through the District's public records; that payment on the loans secured by Atlanta's real property were in default by November 1996; and, that the public records reflected that the corporation was in good standing during the years that the transactions occurred and in early 1997. [3] The trial court rejected as inapplicable the estate's  alter ego  theory by which it sought on behalf of the decedent as a corporate shareholder to pierce the corporate veil. Therefore, it determined that the estate had no standing to sue on behalf of the corporation and that the Atlanta Corporation would be the proper party plaintiff in the action. [4] There is no dispute that all of the real property in which the estate claimed an interest was titled and recorded in the name of the Atlanta Corporation and remained so at the time of decedent's death. The estate's theory in the trial court was that the corporation was the alter ego of Leonard Raleigh, or at least, there was a genuine material issue in dispute concerning that fact. As factual support for this claim, the estate relied on evidence that Raleigh maintained a bank account in the name of Leonard Raleigh d/b/a Atlanta Corporation and that Lawrence Mitchell, one of the trustees on one or more of the deeds of trust wrote the attorney for the estate a letter in which he stated that I have known the late Mr. Raleigh since the late 1980s and dealt with him through his corporation, the Atlanta Corporation. On at least one or more occasions I questioned him as to the stock of Atlanta Corporation and his response was that he was the sole owner and did not intend to have any partners in the said corporation. Appellees argue that even assuming that this evidence was sufficient to establish that Raleigh owned all of Atlanta's corporate stock, the estate as his successor would not have a direct interest in the corporation's properties that were lost at foreclosure that would entitle it to sue as owner.