Hess v. Pawloski
United States Supreme Court
274 U.S. 352 (1927)
Hess (defendant), a Pennsylvania resident, got into a car accident with Pawloski (plaintiff) in Massachusetts. Massachusetts had a statute providing that anyone driving in the state impliedly consented to its courts' jurisdiction, and to substituted service on the state registrar, for claims arising from accidents there, so long as a copy of the summons and complaint was also mailed to the defendant's home address. Hess objected to Massachusetts's jurisdiction over him as a nonresident, but the trial court overruled the objection and ruled for Pawloski; Hess appealed on jurisdictional grounds.
Whether a state may constitutionally provide, by statute, that a nonresident motorist impliedly consents to the state's court jurisdiction and to substituted service of process for claims arising from the motorist's use of the state's highways.