Piercing the entity veil to reach officers

Keith Paul Bishop reports that a US District Court, applying California law, declined to pierce the veil of a LLC to reach the entity's President:

However, the Trust Funds present no evidence or even an allegation that Murphy is a member of Show Ready; they merely allege that he is the “President” of Show Ready. (Compl. ¶ 6.)  Thus, this statute [§ 17703.04] does not establish Murphy’s personal liability for Show Ready’s debts.

In our book, Limited Liability: A Legal and Economic Analysis, Todd Henderson and I discuss both the law governing LLC veil piercing and the policy arguments for and against (we come out against). We also discuss the much more limited law on piercing the corporate veil to reach corporate officers and directors rather than shareholders (which we're also against).

Which gives me an excuse to reprint this: