K.C. Roofing Center v. On Top Roofing, Inc.
Missouri Court of Appeals
807 S.W.2d 545 (1991)
Russell and Carol Nugent (defendants) were the principal owners of a series of small roofing companies Russell repeatedly set up, only to shut each one down and start a new one at the same address and phone number when it couldn't pay its debts. K.C. Roofing Center (KCRC) and Lumberman's Mutual Wholesale Company (plaintiffs) advanced roughly $45,000 in roofing supplies to Russell's latest company, On Top Roofing, Inc. (defendant), which then failed to pay. Russell knew when requesting the supplies that On Top had no funds to pay plaintiffs or roughly $100,000 owed to other prior suppliers. After a bench trial, the court pierced On Top's corporate veil and held Russell personally liable; the Nugents appealed.
Whether, in Missouri, it is proper for a court to "pierce the corporate veil" and hold owners personally liable if the owners (1) maintained complete control of the entity's business practices so as to render it functionless and (2) used that control to violate a plaintiff's legal rights.