$100,000 Legal Tip About Signing Contracts
John Doe signs a $100,000 contract on behalf of his company:
Acme Marketing
By John Doe, President
There is a dispute and a lawsuit is filed. The lawsuit is filed against John Doe - personally.
He argues the company, and not him, is on the hook, and he was not even involved in the contract.
Court ruling: tough. Lawsuit to proceed against him personally.
Why?
Because the company is a corporation and "Acme Marketing" does not signify that a corporation is involved.
The legal analysis is a person signs a contract as an agent for a corporation (LLC, partnership, etc), but if the true entity is not fully disclosed then the agent also assumes liability on the contract.
It apparently was not brought to the court's attention that a "DBA" is publicly on file listing Acme Marketing as a name used by the company, so who knows what a future ruling may be.
Still, you may want to take a second look at how you sign contracts.
.
Publish Coloring Books for Profit (WSOTD 7-30-2015)
[Free] Learn How to Crush Web Traffic with Kenster