Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/16pdf/16-254_5iel.pdf
Page Number: 4.0

Cite as:  581 U. S. ____ (2017) 

1 

Opinion of the Court 

NOTICE:  This opinion is subject to formal revision before publication in the
preliminary  print  of  the  United  States  Reports.  Readers  are  requested  to
notify the Reporter of Decisions, Supreme Court of the United States, Wash­
ington,  D. C.  20543,  of  any  typographical  or  other  formal  errors,  in  order
that corrections may be made before the preliminary print goes to press. 

SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES 

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No. 16–254 
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WATER SPLASH, INC., PETITIONER v. TARA MENON 

ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE COURT OF APPEALS OF 

TEXAS, FOURTEENTH DISTRICT
 

[May 22, 2017] 

JUSTICE ALITO delivered the opinion of the Court. 
This  case  concerns  the  scope  of  the  Convention  on  the
Service Abroad of Judicial and Extrajudicial Documents in 
Civil  and  Commercial  Matters,  Nov.  15,  1965  (Hague
Service  Convention),  20  U. S. T.  361,  T. I. A. S.  No.  6638.
The  purpose  of  that  multilateral  treaty  is  to  simplify,
standardize, and generally improve the process of serving 
documents  abroad.  Preamble,  ibid.;  see  Volkswagenwerk 
Aktiengesellschaft  v.  Schlunk,  486  U. S.  694,  698  (1988). 
To  that  end,  the  Hague  Service  Convention  specifies  cer­
tain  approved  methods  of  service  and  “pre-empts  incon­
sistent  methods  of  service”  wherever  it  applies.    Id.,  at 
699.  Today  we  address  a  question  that  has  divided  the 
lower courts: whether the Convention prohibits service by
mail.  We hold that it does not. 

I 

A 

Petitioner  Water  Splash  is  a  corporation  that  produces
aquatic  playground  systems.  Respondent  Menon  is  a 
former employee of Water Splash.  In 2013, Water Splash
sued Menon in state court in Texas, alleging that she had 
begun  working  for  a  competitor  while  still  employed  by