CIVIL PROCEDURE-JURISDICTION-COMMISSION OF ISOLATED TORT BY FOREIGN CORPORATION AS "DOING BUSINESS" WITHIN THE STATE

Authors

W. H. Bates S.Ed., University of Michigan Law SchoolFollow

Abstract

Plaintiff, a Vermont resident, brought action for damages in the Vermont court, alleging negligence of defendant in re-roofing plaintiff's house located in that state. Defendant, a Massachusetts corporation, had not qualified to do business in Vermont, nor had it appointed an agent to receive service therein. There was no evidence to indicate that defendant was actively engaged in business there. Substituted service was made upon defendant through the Secretary of State of Vermont as authorized by a statute. The statute stipulated that the term "doing business" included those instances in which a foreign corporation made a contract in Vermont with a resident thereof which called for performance within the state; or in which a foreign corporation committed a tort in whole or in part in Vermont. There was no question concerning adequacy of notice and opportunity to appear. Held, a state may constitutionally pass a statute subjecting a foreign corporation which commits a tort wholly within the state to the jurisdiction of its courts for the purpose of determining liability for damages arising froiμ such a tort. Smyth v. Twin State Improvement Corporation, (Vt. 1951) 80 A.(2d) 664.

Recommended Citation

W. H. Bates S.Ed., CIVIL PROCEDURE-JURISDICTION-COMMISSION OF ISOLATED TORT BY FOREIGN CORPORATION AS "DOING BUSINESS" WITHIN THE STATE, 50 Mich. L. Rev. 763 (1952).
Available at: https://repository.law.umich.edu/mlr/vol50/iss5/9