Genuine Parts Company, Defendant Below-Appellant v. Ralph Allan Cepec and Sandra Faye Cepec, Plaintiffs Below-Appellees

Summary

The court held that Delaware's foreign-corporation registration and service-of-process statutes do not constitute consent to general personal jurisdiction for claims unrelated to the corporation's Delaware activities. Reading the statutes otherwise would conflict with due-process limits on general jurisdiction because Genuine Parts was not essentially at home in Delaware and the plaintiffs conceded that specific jurisdiction was unavailable. Justice Vaughn, dissenting, would have affirmed because the court should not extend the due-process reasoning to consent-based jurisdiction absent a definitive ruling requiring that result.