Mallory v. Norfolk Southern Railway Co.

Summary

The Supreme Court held that Pennsylvania’s statutory scheme requiring foreign corporations to register to do business and consent to general personal jurisdiction does not violate the Due Process Clause. Relying on Pennsylvania Fire Insurance Co. v. Gold Issue Mining & Milling Co., the Court concluded that Norfolk Southern consented to suit in Pennsylvania by registering under the state’s laws. The judgment of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania was vacated, and the case was remanded.

Holdings

1. The Due Process Clause does not prohibit Pennsylvania from exercising personal jurisdiction over Norfolk Southern because the company registered to do business in Pennsylvania under a statutory scheme that subjected registered foreign corporations to general personal jurisdiction.
2. Pennsylvania Fire was not implicitly overruled by International Shoe or subsequent personal-jurisdiction decisions because those decisions addressed jurisdiction over nonconsenting defendants and did not eliminate consent as an independent basis for jurisdiction.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the Fourteenth Amendment’s Due Process Clause prohibits Pennsylvania from requiring an out-of-state corporation to consent to general personal jurisdiction as a condition of registering to do business in the Commonwealth.
2. Whether Pennsylvania Fire Ins. Co. of Philadelphia v. Gold Issue Mining & Milling Co. remained controlling or had been implicitly overruled by later personal-jurisdiction decisions.
3. Whether Norfolk Southern’s registration and continued business operations in Pennsylvania constituted consent to suit there on claims unrelated to Pennsylvania.

Disposition

vacated