By: Derek Hawkins//July 5, 2017//
WI Supreme Court
Case Name: The Segregated Account of Ambac Assurance Corporation, et al., v. Countrywide Home Loans, Inc.,
Case No.: 2017 WI 71
Focus: Jurisdiction – Foreign corporation
This case implicates the authority of Wisconsin courts to exercise general jurisdiction over a foreign corporation. Countrywide Home Loans, Inc. petitioned this court for review of an unpublished decision of the court of appeals, which held that Countrywide consented to general personal jurisdiction in Wisconsin when it appointed a registered agent pursuant to Wis. Stat. § 180.1507 (2015-16). Because the text of § 180.1507 does not even mention jurisdiction, much less consent, Countrywide’s compliance with the statute does not, on its own, confer jurisdiction. We therefore hold that compliance with § 180.1507 does not subject Countrywide to general jurisdiction in Wisconsin; accordingly, we reverse the decision of the court of appeals and remand the matter to the court of appeals for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
Reversed and remanded
Dissent: A.W. Bradley, Abrahamson
Concurring: