## Facts

- Chickasaw Club, Inc. operated a Columbus, Georgia nightclub; William A. Soerries was its sole shareholder.
- On July 31, 1996, 18-year-old Aubrey Lynn Pursley entered the club without employees checking her identification, despite a local ordinance barring persons under 21 from entering nightclubs.
- Witnesses testified Pursley arrived intoxicated, drank additional alcohol at the club, and left around 3:00 a.m. visibly intoxicated; videotape showed her leaving with a beer.
- Shortly after leaving, Pursley lost control of her vehicle, struck a tree, and died.
- Joseph Dancause (Pursley’s stepfather) sued Chickasaw Club, Inc. and Soerries individually, seeking to pierce the corporate veil and impose personal liability.
- A trifurcated jury trial resulted in $6,500 compensatory damages and $187,500 punitive damages; the jury pierced the corporate veil, found Soerries jointly liable with the corporation for compensatory damages, and solely liable for punitive damages.
- Evidence supporting veil piercing included: Soerries paying employees, suppliers, and entertainers in cash (including “under the table” payments not reflected in payroll records); commingling corporate and personal funds; using club proceeds to pay his personal mortgage on the building where the club operated; and tax reporting showing consistent corporate losses despite heavy patronage and unexplained discrepancies between reported income and cash flow.

## Issues

1. Whether the evidence was sufficient to support the jury’s decision to pierce the corporate veil and hold Soerries personally liable for damages arising from the corporation’s tort liability, including punitive damages.

## Decision

- The Court of Appeals of Georgia affirmed the judgment.
- Viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the verdict, the court held there was sufficient evidence that Soerries disregarded corporate separateness and used the corporation as an alter ego.
- The court upheld the jury’s imposition of personal liability on Soerries for both compensatory and punitive damages based on the veil-piercing finding.

## Legal Principles

- A corporation generally has a legal existence separate from its officers and shareholders; operating corporate business, without more, does not create shareholder personal liability.
- Veil piercing in Georgia is an equitable remedy used to prevent injustice where a party overextends the corporate privilege to defeat justice, perpetrate fraud, or evade contractual or tort responsibility.
- Sole ownership alone is insufficient to pierce the veil, but domination coupled with commingling of funds, disregard of financial formalities, and use of corporate assets for personal obligations may support a jury finding that the corporation is the shareholder’s alter ego.
- When there is evidence of such abuse, veil piercing is a fact question that may be submitted to the jury, and the verdict will be sustained on appeal if supported by evidence under the applicable review standard.

## Conclusion

The court affirmed a jury verdict piercing the corporate veil where the sole shareholder’s commingling of funds, cash-based unrecorded payments, and personal use of corporate proceeds supported a finding that the corporation was used to evade tort responsibility, justifying personal liability for compensatory and punitive damages.


Soerries v. Dancause, 248 Ga. App. 374, 546 S.E.2d 356 (Ga. Ct. App. 2001)