Also known as: do business · does business · did business · doing business as · DBA
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
An activity consisting of a series of similar acts undertaken to realize pecuniary benefit or accomplish an object, or a single act undertaken with the intention of initiating such a series.
Decker Electronics maintains its sole business office in the state at the same address it lists as its registered office. Because the corporation is registered to do business in the state, it satisfies the statutory requirement for appointment of a registered agent whose office coincides with that location.
Denise Donovan, a nonresident, owns shares in a Delaware corporation whose sole asset is real property located in the forum state. The ownership interest does not constitute doing business in the state, so the forum lacks jurisdiction over her person for claims unrelated to the shares.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Duarte Shipping operates a slaughterhouse that purchases live poultry only from in-state suppliers and sells the processed meat exclusively to local buyers. These activities amount to doing business entirely within the state and fall outside federal regulatory power over interstate commerce.
Dawson Steel employs sales representatives who regularly solicit orders from customers within the forum state. The continuous solicitation constitutes doing business sufficient to subject the corporation to personal jurisdiction for claims arising from those sales activities.
David Dawson owns a residence in the forum state that he rents to his cousin for ordinary residential living. The passive rental does not qualify as doing business under the statute because the property is not used in any commercial undertaking.
Diamond Manufacturing maintains stores throughout the country, including numerous outlets in the forum state. The widespread and continuous retail presence amounts to doing business, yet the absence of a single centralized policy does not automatically create a common question sufficient for class certification.
A foreign corporation or LLC engages in doing business when it carries on a series of similar acts for pecuniary gain or a single act intended to begin such a series. Registration is then required before the entity may maintain an action in the state courts.
No. The failure to register impairs neither the validity of the entity's contracts nor its ability to defend actions brought against it in the state.
Doing business supplies the contacts that satisfy due process when the suit arises from those in-state activities. Continuous and substantial business may even support jurisdiction over unrelated claims if the defendant is essentially at home in the forum.
Mere ownership of shares or rental of property for residential use does not constitute doing business. The activities must involve active commercial operations directed at realizing profit within the state.
…salesman was not proper service upon appellant; that appellant was not a corporation of the State of Washington and was not doing business within the state; that it had no agent within the state upon whom service could be made; and that appellant is not an employer and does not furnish employment within the meaning of the…