Perkins v. Benguet Consolidated Mining Co.

342 U.S. 437 (1952)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

Perkins (P) sued several parties including Benguet (D) for dividends and damages for failure to issue stock certificates. The trial court sustained motions to quash service against D. The service was performed while D's president was in Ohio acting in that capacity. D was also a foreign corporation, and the cause of action did not arise in Ohio and was not related to the business activities of D in that State. D was a Philippine corporation, and during WWII its activities were suspended. The president of the company temporarily carried on in Ohio (during the Japanese occupation of the Philippines) a continuous and systematic, but limited, part of its general business -- consisting of directors' meetings, business correspondence, banking, stock transfers, payment of salaries, purchasing of machinery, etc. He maintained an office there, held company files there and employed two secretaries. The trial court sustained a motion to quash the service on the respondent foreign corporation. The Court of Appeals of Ohio affirmed. A judgment sustaining a motion to quash the service was affirmed by the State Supreme Court. The Supreme Court granted certiorari.