Harry Gill Co. v. Superior Court

This is a petition by The Harry Gill Company, a corporation, for a writ of mandate seeking to compel the Superior Court of Santa Clara County to quash service of summons made upon petitioner. The sole issue presented is whether petitioner, as a foreign corporation, is amenable to service of process and the jurisdiction of the California courts.

In H. Liebes & Co. v. Erica Shoes, Inc., 237 Cal.App.2d 25, 27-28 [ 46 Cal.Rptr. 470 ], we stated the applicable principles as follows: “Under subdivision 2 of Code of Civil Procedure section 411, which prescribes the means by which service of summons must be made as against a foreign corporation, it is requisite, in order that a court may acquire jurisdiction over such a corporation, that the corporation be ‘doing business in this State. . . .’ The meaning of this term as applied to jurisdiction to maintain litigation is stated in Henry R. John & Son v. Superior Court, 49 Cal.2d 855, 858 [ 323 P.2d 437 ], as follows: ‘That term is a descriptive one that the courts have equated with such minimum contacts with the state “that the maintenance of the suit does not offend ‘traditional notions of fair play and substantial justice.’ ”…