Recent developments may radically alter the landscape of personal jurisdiction for foreign corporations that register to do business in Pennsylvania. The implications for personal injury lawsuits in the commonwealth are clear, though this issue is especially relevant for products liability actions, where foreign corporations are often named as defendants. Pennsylvania state courts currently interpret this statutory scheme to establish general personal jurisdiction over foreign corporations, but a constitutional review of the potentially involuntary nature of the statute may mean a sea change is coming.

Under 15 Pa. C.S.A. Section 411, a foreign corporation “may not do business in this Commonwealth until it registers with the [Pennsylvania Department of State] under this chapter.” Yet, when a foreign corporation does so, it may subject itself to general personal jurisdiction. This is because under 42 Pa. C.S.A. Section 5301(a)(2), registering to do business “constitute[s] a sufficient basis of jurisdiction to enable the tribunals of this commonwealth to exercise general personal jurisdiction” over a foreign corporation. When these statutes are read together, Pennsylvania will only permit foreign corporations to do business in the commonwealth if they register, thereby subjecting themselves to general personal jurisdiction.

This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.

To view this content, please continue to their sites.

Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now

Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now

Why am I seeing this?

LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law are third party online distributors of the broad collection of current and archived versions of ALM's legal news publications. LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law customers are able to access and use ALM's content, including content from the National Law Journal, The American Lawyer, Legaltech News, The New York Law Journal, and Corporate Counsel, as well as other sources of legal information.

For questions call 1-877-256-2472 or contact us at [email protected]