International Shoe Co. v. Washington

International Shoe Co. was a business incorporated in Delaware with its principal place of business in Missouri. It employed about a dozen salesmen in the state of Washington, who were residents of that state paid by commissions on their sales. International Shoe did not own any property or have a permanent location in Washington, since the salesmen used hotels and rented spaces to interact with potential clients. This system was designed to restrict the company's location to Missouri, although the business earned about $30,000 annually from customers in Washington.

The state enacted a tax on companies doing business there that functioned as a mandatory contribution to its Unemployment Compensation Fund. When International Shoe failed to comply with the tax, the state of Washington served a notice of assessment on one of the resident salesmen and sent a letter by registered mail to the company's Missouri headquarters. International Shoe tried to forestall the case at the outset by moving that it be dismissed for a lack of personal jurisdiction. This argument failed at every level of the state court system.