Debtor-Creditor – garnishment — corporations

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Wisconsin Supreme Court

Civil

Debtor-Creditor – garnishment — corporations

A judgment can be enforced against a legal entity when the judgment is entered against the name under which the legal entity does business.

“The cases relied on by the circuit court and court of appeals state that when a person or corporation does business under a name, that name ‘is merely descriptive of the person or corporation’ and ‘it does not create or constitute an entity distinct from the person operating the business.’ Jacob v. West Bend Mut. Ins. Co., 203 Wis. 2d 524, 537 n.7, 553 N.W.2d 800 (Ct. App. 1996). In Capsavage v. Esser, 224 Wis. 2d 404, 415, 591 N.W.2d 888 (Ct. App. 1999), which involved a dispute concerning the type of legal entity involved, the court clarified that the name under which the company, Sundance Marine, was doing business was not ‘a distinct entity’ but rather was ‘simply another way to refer to Sundance Marine.’”

“It follows from this principle that if the name under which a person or corporation does business is ‘simply another way to refer to’ a single legal entity and constitutes no entity distinct from the person or corporation who does business, then a judgment against the ‘doing business as’ or ‘d/b/a’ name is enforceable against the legal entity from which it is indistinct. This result is consistent with the approach taken on this question by the majority of other jurisdictions that have addressed it. Based on this principle in Wisconsin case law concerning a d/b/a designation or trade name, and consistent with the approaches of the majority of other jurisdictions, we hold that the judgment against EA Green Bay LLC’s d/b/a designation, Paul Davis Restoration of Northeast Wisconsin, is enforceable against EA Green Bay, LLC, and the account at Denmark State Bank; Northeast and EA Green Bay, LLC, are not two distinct legal entities; and EA Green Bay, LLC, was undisputedly doing business under the name Northeast.”

Reversed.

2011AP1121 Paul Davis Restoration of S.E. Wisconsin, Inc., v. Paul Davis Restoration of Northeast Wisconsin

Crooks, J.

Attorneys: For Appellant: Bellin, Robert E., Jr., Neenah; Sturicz, Natalie M., Neenah; For Respondent: Bardosy, Adam, Milwaukee