Sec. 33-1219. Service of process on foreign corporation.
Sec. 33-1219. Service of process on foreign corporation. (a) The registered agent
of a foreign corporation authorized to conduct affairs in this state is the corporation's
agent for service of process, notice or demand required or permitted by law to be served
on the foreign corporation. When the registered agent is other than the Secretary of the
State and his successors in office, service may be effected by any proper officer or other
person lawfully empowered to make service by leaving a true and attested copy of the
process, notice or demand with such agent or, in the case of an agent who is a natural
person, by leaving it at such agent's usual place of abode in this state.
(b) A foreign corporation may be served by any proper officer or other person lawfully empowered to make service by registered or certified mail, return receipt requested,
addressed to the secretary of the foreign corporation at its principal office shown in its
application for a certificate of authority or in its most recent annual report if the foreign
corporation: (1) Has no registered agent or its registered agent cannot with reasonable
diligence be served; (2) has withdrawn from conducting affairs in this state under section
33-1222; or (3) has had its certificate of authority revoked under section 33-1226.
(c) When the Secretary of the State and his successors in office have been appointed
a foreign corporation's registered agent, a foreign corporation may be served by any
proper officer or other person lawfully empowered to make service by leaving two true
and attested copies thereof together with the required fee at the office of the Secretary
of the State or depositing the same in the United States mail, by registered or certified
mail, postage prepaid, addressed to said office. The Secretary of the State shall file one
copy of such process and keep a record of the date and hour of such receipt. He shall,
within two business days after such service, forward by registered or certified mail the
copy of such process to the corporation at the address of its principal office as last shown
on his records.
(d) Service is effective under subsection (b) of this section at the earliest of: (1) The
date the foreign corporation receives the mail; (2) the date shown on the return receipt,
if signed on behalf of the foreign corporation; and (3) five days after its deposit in the
United States mail, as evidenced by the postmark, if mailed postage prepaid and correctly
addressed. In the case of service on the Secretary of the State, service so made shall be
effective as of the date and hour received by the Secretary of the State as shown on his
records.
(e) Every foreign corporation which conducts affairs in this state in violation of
section 33-1210 shall be subject to suit in this state upon any cause of action arising out
of such affairs.
(f) Every foreign corporation shall be subject to suit in this state, by a resident of
this state or by a person having a usual place of business in this state, whether or not
such foreign corporation is conducting or has conducted affairs in this state and whether
or not it is engaged exclusively in interstate or foreign commerce, on any cause of action
arising as follows: (1) Out of any contract made in this state or to be performed in this
state; (2) out of any solicitation in this state by mail or otherwise if the corporation has
repeatedly so solicited, whether the orders or offers relating thereto were accepted within
or without the state; (3) out of the production, manufacture or distribution of goods by
such corporation with the reasonable expectation that such goods are to be used or
consumed in this state and are so used or consumed, regardless of how or where the
goods were produced, manufactured, marketed or sold or whether or not through the
medium of independent contractors or dealers; or (4) out of tortious conduct in this
state, whether arising out of repeated activity or single acts, and whether arising out of
misfeasance or nonfeasance.
(g) In any action brought under subsection (e) or (f) of this section, or in any foreclosure or other action involving real property located in this state in which a foreign
corporation, although not conducting affairs in this state, owns or claims to own an
interest, service of process on such corporation may be made as provided in subsection
(b) of this section, except that the service shall be addressed to the corporation at its
principal office or, if it has no such office or the address of such office is not known,
to such corporation's last office as shown in the official registry of the state or country
of its incorporation, which address shall be set forth in the writ or other process.
(h) This section does not prescribe the only means, or necessarily the required
means, of serving a foreign corporation.
(P.A. 96-256, S. 148, 209; P.A. 97-246, S. 79, 99; June Sp. Sess. P.A. 98-1, S. 24, 121.)
History: P.A. 96-256 effective January 1, 1997; P.A. 97-246 amended Subsec. (a) to provide that the manner of service
specified is applicable when the registered agent is other than the Secretary of the State and his successors in office and
authorize service by any proper officer or other person lawfully empowered to make service, amended Subsec. (b) to
authorize service by any proper officer or other person lawfully empowered to make service, designated as Subsec. (c)
provisions formerly part of Subsec. (b) re manner of service when the Secretary of the State has been appointed registered
agent and amended said Subsec. to delete provision that limited applicability to service of foreign corporations authorized
to conduct affairs in this state, replace "executive offices" with "principal office" and make technical changes, redesignated
former Subsec. (c) as Subsec. (d) and amended said Subsec. to make provision re effective date and time of service on the
Secretary of the State a separate sentence rather than Subdiv. (4) and make technical changes, redesignated former Subsecs.
(d) and (e) as Subsecs. (e) and (f), respectively, added new Subsec. (g) re manner of service in any action brought under
Subsec. (e) or (f) or in certain actions involving real property, and redesignated former Subsec. (f) as Subsec. (h), effective
June 27, 1997; June Sp. Sess. P.A. 98-1 made a technical change in Subsec. (c), effective June 24, 1998.
See Sec. 1-2a re construing of references to "United States mail" or "postmark" to include references to any delivery
service designated by the Secretary of the Treasury pursuant to Section 7502 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 or any
successor to the code, as amended, and to any date recorded or marked as described in said Section 7502 by a designated
delivery service and construing of "registered or certified mail" to include any equivalent designated by the Secretary of
the Treasury pursuant to said Section 7502.
Annotations to former section 33-519:
Subsec. (c):
Statute gave personal jurisdiction over hospital located in Rhode Island. 198 C. 243.
Cited. 6 CA 43. Cited. 10 CA 201.