Personal Liability And Construction Ladder

Consider two scenarios. First, a general commences an action against a corporate sub for breach of contract, obtains a judgment, and then realises that the sub has no money and no assets and that the judgment is no more than a worthless piece of paper. Second, an owner retains a corporate contractor to build a home, pays the contractor money in advance, ultimately fires the contractor because the contractor is incompetent, obtains judgment against the contractor, and, again, realises that the judgment is not collectable. In each of these scenarios, the wronged party needed to obtain a judgment against the individuals behind the corporations. Sometimes, this can be done – and there are numerous ways to do it; sometimes, this cannot be done.