Court finds individuals liable under corporate lease

In an August 2011 New York County landlord/tenant action, 498 Seventh Ave. LLC v. Easy Street, Inc., it was held that, where a corporation is dissolved by proclamation, and leases are then signed by individuals purportedly in their representative capacities as officers of said corporation, those individuals were to be held personally responsible to the landlord for the obligations incurred under said leases. The Court reasoned that since the individuals purported to act on behalf of a corporation that did not have either a de jure nor a de facto existence, they were to be held personally liable for the obligations incurred under those leases. The Court granted summary judgment to the landlord.

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