A principal of a corporation isn't personally liable under New Jersey's state Superfund law for the cleanup of a former thermometer manufacturing plant based on a check the corporation wrote to a liable party, which later sold the property to the corporation for a dollar, a New Jersey appeals court ruled in an unpublished decision (NJDEP v. Navillus Group, 2016 BL 9669, N.J. Super. Ct., No. A-4726-13T3, unpublished decision 1/14/16). The evidence introduced doesn't establish commingling of assets sufficient to pierce Jim Sullivan Inc.'s corporate veil and render principal James Sullivan Jr. liable, the New Jersey Superior Court, Appellate Division said Jan. 14. During the 1980s and 1990s, Accutherm Inc. manufactured thermometers at a facility in Franklin Township, N.J. In the course of that production, mercury spills and discharges contaminated the site's building, grounds and groundwater, the court said. In 1970, Jim Sullivan Inc. was incorporated by Sullivan. His children, James Sullivan III, Sandra Lyons-Sullivan, Drew Sullivan and Terri Clay, were later shareholders and employees. In 1989 or 1990, a family partnership called Navillus Group was formed for the purpose of holding and distributing the father's assets to his children.
展开▼
