Perkins v. Benguet Mining Co.

Perkins v. Benguet Mining Co.
Argued November 27–28, 1951
Decided March 3, 1952
Full case namePerkins v. Benguet Consolidated Mining Co.
Citations342 U.S. 437 (more)
72 S. Ct. 413; 96 L. Ed. 485; 1952 U.S. LEXIS 2386; 63 Ohio L. Abs. 146; 47 Ohio Op. 216
Case history
Prior155 Ohio St. 116 (vacated and remanded)
Court membership
Chief Justice
Fred M. Vinson
Associate Justices
Hugo Black · Stanley F. Reed
Felix Frankfurter · William O. Douglas
Robert H. Jackson · Harold H. Burton
Tom C. Clark · Sherman Minton
Case opinions
MajorityBurton, joined by Black, Reed, Frankfurter, Douglas, Jackson, Clark
DissentMinton, joined by Vinson
Laws applied
U.S. Const. amend. XIV

Perkins v. Benguet Mining Co., 342 U.S. 437 (1952), was a United States Supreme Court case which held that an Ohio state court could exercise general personal jurisdiction over a foreign corporation on the basis of that company's "continuous and systematic" contacts with the state of Ohio. Benguet Consolidated Mining Co. was a Philippine mining corporation, owned by American John W. Hausermann, that temporarily stopped its mining operations and relocated its president to Ohio during the World War II Japanese occupation of the Philippines. The Court held that the president's use of his office in Ohio to carry on continuous business activities during this period allowed Ohio to properly assert general jurisdiction over his company.