piercing the veil
Seeing through facades
Piercing the veil is a legal doctrine allowing courts to hold shareholders personally liable for a corporation's debts or actions, bypassing the usual protection that corporate structure provides.
The "veil" is the legal separation between a company and its owners.
Courts pierce it when the corporation is merely a shell or has been used to commit fraud: The judge pierced the veil after discovering the LLC was just a personal piggy bank.
More broadly, piercing the veil means seeing through a protective façade to reach what lies beneath.
- corporateOf or relating to companies
- revealMake something visible
- uncoverReveal what's hidden
- penetrateEnter or pass through
- hiddenKept out of sight
hidden truth · truth · behind the curtain · facade · smoke and mirrors · illusion · see through · expose · transparent · mystery · shareholder · liability · legal · legal fiction · limited liability · curtain · secrecy · fraud
- corporate liabilitycorporate liability, limited liability, personal liability, unlimited liability, strict liability
- Legal Fictionslegal person, personhood, presumed death, legal death, civil death
- corporationsApple, Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Toyota
piercing the veiltaking at face value
Believing something as presented
willful blindness · credulity · naivety · looking the other way · turning a blind eye
piercing the veilveiling
Concealing with covering
obscuring · concealing · covering up · keeping secrets · obfuscating
pierce, pierced, pierces, piercer, piercers, veil, veils, veiled, veiling