Gray v. American Radiator & Standard Sanitary Corp.
Supreme Court of Illinois
22 Ill.2d 432, 176 N.E.2d 761 (1961)
- Written by Sean Carroll, JD
Facts
Phyllis Gray (plaintiff) was injured by a water heater that exploded. Gray bought the water heater in Illinois and brought suit in Illinois against Titan Valve Manufacturing Company (Titan) (defendant), the company that had negligently made the water heater’s safety valve. Titan was served with the complaint in Ohio. The company did not do business in Illinois, had no agent present in Illinois, and actually sold the safety valves to a third party in Pennsylvania where the valve was attached to the water heater. An Illinois jurisdiction statute stated that a nonresident who commits a tortious act in Illinois submits to the jurisdiction of Illinois courts. Titan filed a motion to dismiss, arguing that the statute violated due process of law by placing Titan under Illinois jurisdiction even though the company’s only contact with the state was Gray’s injury. The court granted the motion to dismiss and Gray appealed.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Klingbiel, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 810,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,300 briefs, keyed to 988 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.