Ohio Supreme Court, 1927

State ex rel. Johnson & Higgins Co. v. Safford

State ex rel. Johnson & Higgins Co. v. Safford
Ohio Supreme Court · Decided December 28, 1927 · Allen, Day, Jones, Kinkade, Marshall, Matthias, Robinson
6 Ohio Law. Abs. 15; 117 Ohio St. 576; 159 N.E. 829; 1927 Ohio LEXIS 201

State ex rel. Johnson & Higgins Co. v. Safford

Opinion of the Court

DAY, J.

1. In the furtherance of justice, the fiction of a corporate entity may be disregarded where the corporation is so controlled and its affairs so conducted as to make it merely an instrumentality for the purpose of evading and circumventing a state law.

2. Where a statute forbids the issuing; of an' insurance agent’s license unless the applicant be a resident of the state, and the super- ^ intendent of insurance, pursuant to adminis-1 trative precedent and in the exercise of a sound discretion, has denied a license to a domestic insurance corporation, the majority of whose capital stock is owned by the holder of a foreign insurance broker’s license, upon the ground that the fiction of the domestic corporate entity is sought to be used as a means of circumventing the statute by such holder of a foreign insurance broker’s license, a writ of mandamus seeking to compel the superintendent of insurance to issue such license will be denied.

(Marshall, CJ., . Allen, Kinkade, Robinson, Jones and Matthias, JJ., concur.)

Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.