Can a trustee of a bankrupt corporation maintain an action against a defendant based on an alter ego theory?

The trustee of a bankrupt corporation can maintain an action against a defendant based on an alter ego theory if there is some allegation of injury to *1199 the corporation that gives the corporation a right of action against the defendant. ( Stodd v. Goldberger (1977) 73 Cal.App.3d 827, 833, 141 Cal.Rptr. 67 ( Stodd ).) For example, the trustee of a bankrupt corporation can maintain an action against corporate shareholders on an alter ego theory in order to recover property or pursue a right of action belonging to the bankrupt corporation, including an action to set aside fraudulent transfers or an action for conversion to recover assets of the bankrupt corporation. ( Id. at p. 834, 141 Cal.Rptr. 67) However, the trustee of a bankrupt corporation "cannot maintain an action against defendants on an alter ego theory absent some allegation of injury to the corporation giving rise to a right of action in it against defendants. In the absence of any such allegation, the asserted cause of action belongs to each creditor individually[.]" ( Id. at p. 833, 141 Cal.Rptr. 67.) "[A] trustee in bankruptcy may not enforce rights of action which belong to the creditors individually[,] because they are not rights in which the bankrupt claims an interest and are not assets of the estate in bankruptcy. [Citations.]" ( Id. at p. 835, 141 Cal.Rptr. 67.)