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

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

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.)

Reference

Full Case Name
STATE ex JOHNSON & HIGGINS CO. v. SAFFORD, Supt. of Ins. STATE ex MARSH & McLENNAN CO. v. SAFFORD, Supt. of Ins.
Status
Published