The Daily Business Review published Berta Gonzalez’s article regarding service of process on a foreign company through its US branch. Gonzalez is a law clerk at the Ayala.
The article addresses whether or not one can serve a foreign company through a US subsidiary, or does the costly and time-consuming process set by the International Convention on the Service Abroad of Judicial and Extra Judicial documents, most commonly known as the Hague Convention, must be used.
In the article Gonzalez writes that “one can serve a subpoena on a foreign company through its U.S. affiliate without serving through the Hague Convention. . . For instance, . . . Yamaha Motor v. Superior Court, California’s Fourth District Court of Appeal ruled that serving a foreign corporation through a domestic subsidiary was sufficient when the domestic subsidiary had “ample regular contact” with the foreign entity, such that the domestic subsidiary “would apprise the manufacturer of service.”
Factors that are considered to determine whether service is valid “include the frequency and quality of contact between the parent and
subsidiary company, and the benefits that the parent company derives from the subsidiary.”
However, “service on a foreign company through its U.S. subsidiary depends on the state where the U.S. affiliate is located and the subsidiary’s relationship with the foreign entity. States such as California, Illinois and New York have largely favorable caselaw that permits service on the U.S. affiliate without needing to go through the Hague Convention.”
You can read the article here: Article.
Gonzalez is in her last semester of law school at the University of Miami and is currently focused on the firm’s commercial litigation practice.
For more information about our commercial litigation practice or international disputes, email attorney Maura at eayala@ayalalawpa.com or call for a consultation at 305-570-2208.
