International Shoe Co. v. Washington
United States Supreme Court
326 U.S. 310 (1945)
Washington state's unemployment commissioner (plaintiff) assessed International Shoe (defendant), a Delaware corporation headquartered in Missouri, for unpaid contributions to the state unemployment fund from 1937 to 1940, serving notice on a company salesman working in Washington. International Shoe argued it wasn't 'doing business' in Washington, had no registered agent there, and wasn't an employer under state law; the state's appeal tribunal, the commissioner, the county superior court, and the Washington Supreme Court all rejected that argument, and International Shoe appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Whether due process requires that a defendant not present within a forum's territory have certain minimum contacts with the forum such that maintaining the suit does not offend traditional notions of fair play and substantial justice, for that defendant to be subject to the forum's in personam jurisdiction.