Legal Question in Real Estate Law in North Carolina
Lease contract dispute
I am party to Federal lawsuit,whereas the opposing party
is trying to include myself personally in the suit, even
though the contract is in the company name only,with the
one exception of instead of saying LLC,like it should it
says INC., which does not exist.Therefore they are using
this as a way of naming me in the suit.My questions is,if
I show intent, and that this was a mistake on their part
since they drew uo the lease,how much does this help?I do
have an affadavit from the gentleman I negogiate the lease
with that it should be under the LLC, and in no way was
personally guaranteeing the lease.Do you have any caselaw
to support my case?I can be reached at 252-945-3559
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Lease contract dispute
If you are a party in a federal lawsuit, then you probably need legal representation. If you have not done so already, you need to file your answer, generally within 20 days of service upon you. This is a very treacherous area in which to represent yourself. As for your question, you indeed may have a valid defense, based on the use of the corporation to enter the contract. The use of "LLC" instead of "Inc" probably has no effect in your case, but this would take a little legal research to confirm. Your argument is enhanced if the other side drafted the lease, but of course you had a duty to read it also. Even if there is a corporation, the plaintiff can sometimes sue the owner of the corporation, using a theory called "piercing the corporate veil," but this is generally difficult to do; an attorney would need a lot more facts, and the pleadings in your case, to assess this. Even if you have a valid defense to all of this, it would be very difficult for a non-lawyer to sort through the federal procedural rules to make and support the proper motions to ultimately get yourself dismissed from the case.