Question:

A corporation serves as the landlord for an apartment building in eastern North Carolina. The corporation provides the usual landlord services: repairs, maintenance, rent collection, and so forth.

The landlord's president, Declan, owns 100% of the corporation's shares. Although the corporation was initially well capitalized, it has fallen on hard times due to the pandemic and the related moratorium on evictions. Declan has also fallen on hard times and repeatedly needed to cause the corporation to issue special dividends so he can pay personal expenses. The corporation no longer carries insurance.

Haley is a model tenant who has always paid her rent on time. As a result of heavy snowfall this past winter, the ceiling of Haley's top-floor apartment has buckled. She has asked the building superintendent (an employee of the landlord) several times to repair the roof, but because of the corporation's shaky financial situation, the landlord has not yet completed the repairs. Assuming that the corporation is obligated to repair Haley's apartment, will Haley be able to recover against Declan personally?