Code Attorney

During a recent presentation in Missouri, one of participants raised an issue that has caused problems in enforcement.  He said that many judges and prosecutors insist that an individual be named as a defendant even when it was clear that an owner of the property was a corporation or LLC.  Prosecutors prefer having an individual to prosecute so a warrant can be issued if the individual fails to appear for court.  However, if an individual is named and is not the responsible party, a defense attorney can file a motion to dismiss the charges against him because the proper party is a corporation or LLC.  I think that the reasons judges and prosecutors make this mistake is because they just aren’t familiar with prosecuting corporate entities.  Even corporations can be charged with criminal offenses.  Therefore, prosecutors need to refer to the criminal code to see what procedure exists in those types of cases.  In my jurisdiction, we serve the registered agent and if no one appears for the corporation, we obtain a default judgment and eventually issue some type of process against an officer of the corporation to obtain compliance.  It’s hard to change procedure when “that’s always the way it’s been done” but ultimately, to get results, you have to target the responsible party whether it’s a corporation or not.  In fact, when you’re dealing with commercial or multi-family housing, it’s rare to have an individual as an owner because of the liability issues associated with such ownership.