Shaffer v. Heitner

Shaffer v. Heitner
Supreme Court of the United States
Argued February 22, 1977 Decided June 17, 1977
Full case name	Shaffer, et al. v. Heitner
Citations	433 U.S. 186 (more) 97 S. Ct. 2569; 53 L. Ed. 2d 683; 1977 U.S. LEXIS 139
Case history
Prior	Appeal from the Supreme Court of Delaware
Holding
The mere ownership of property in a state is not a sufficient contact to subject the property owner to a lawsuit in that state, unless that property is the subject of the lawsuit.
Court membership
Chief Justice Warren E. Burger Associate Justices William J. Brennan Jr. · Potter Stewart Byron White · Thurgood Marshall Harry Blackmun · Lewis F. Powell Jr. William Rehnquist · John P. Stevens
Case opinions
Majority	Marshall, joined by Burger, Stewart, White, Blackmun
Concurrence	Powell
Concurrence	Stevens
Concur/dissent	Brennan
Rehnquist took no part in the consideration or decision of the case.
This case overturned a previous ruling or rulings
Harris v. Balk (1905)

Shaffer v. Heitner, 433 U.S. 186 (1977), is a United States corporate law case in which the Supreme Court of the United States established that a defendant's ownership of stock in a corporation incorporated within a state, without more, is insufficient to allow that state's courts to exercise jurisdiction over the defendant. The case set forth a framework for evaluating when a defendant will be deemed to have minimum contacts with the forum state sufficient for the exercise of jurisdiction to be consistent with due process under the Fourteenth Amendment.^[1]