American Protein Corporation v. Ab Volvo and Volvo Lastvagnar Ab, as Successors in Interest to Beijerinvest Ab, Beijer Industries, Inc. And Bo Lycke

CARDAMONE, Circuit Judge:

We are presented on this appeal with the issue of when the contractual default of a subsidiary corporation may be visited upon its parents. The question takes on added importance because the parents are Swedish corporations without a presence in New York but nonetheless were held liable for the obligations of their New York subsidiary. Legal liability was fastened on one foreign parent in part because the corporate veil between it and its subsidiary was pierced. The primary liability of the parents was based on the fact that two of one parent’s officers and directors…