Tenants who received apartments in great delay sought to sue also another company in the group of the contracting company on the grounds that its shareholders h jointly managed them, used the same offices and the same accounting services.
The Court dismissed the claim against the other company. A company is a separate legal entity from its shareholders. Nevertheless, it is possible, under special circumstances, to attribute a company's debt to a shareholder if the shareholder used the separate legal entity to defraud or deprive a creditor of the company or in a manner that undermines the company's purpose and while taking an unreasonable risk regarding its ability to repay its debts. The fact that two companies are part of the same group is not enough as it must be demonstrated that there was joint conduct economically and substantially, and joint administrative management is not enough to pierce the corporate veil between them. Here, no mixing of assets between the companies or fraud or deprivation of creditors was made, and the fact that there was joint administrative management of the companies, use of the same offices and the same accounting is not sufficient to pierce the corporate veil.