Liability of Corporate Groups and Networks

Christian A. Witting is Professor of Private Law at Queen Mary University of London where he teaches Company Law and Torts. He qualified as a lawyer in Australia and was previously employed by the Commonwealth Attorney General's Department.

• 1. Introduction; Part I. Business Context: 2. The formation of corporate groups and networks; 3. Structuring of corporate group relations; 4. Insolvent entity case studies; Part II. Theory: 5. Conceptions of group and network liability; Part III. Statute: 6. General protections for creditors; 7. Group-specific protections for creditors; 8. Statutory torts; 9. Modified limited liability; Part IV. Common Law: 10. Veil-piercing; 11. Direct liability in tort; 12. Vicarious and joint liability in tort; 13. Conclusions.

'The book is lucidly written and presents many a thought-provoking argument. It is built on a very extensive exploration of tort and company law, as well as other academic disciplines such as economics, sociology and philosophy. Witting draws on law and scholarships not just from this jurisdiction, but also from many others: in addition to Commonwealth countries, the author has clearly undertaken considerable investigations into how the insolvent entity problem has been approached in the United States. It is a stellar example of interdisciplinary and comparative research.' William Day, Journal of Professional Negligence