Case Name: STATE ex JOHNSON & HIGGINS CO. v. SAFFORD, Supt. of Ins.; STATE ex MARSH & McLENNAN CO. v. SAFFORD, Supt. of Ins.
Court: Supreme Court of Ohio
Jurisdiction: Ohio
Decision Date: 1927-12-28
Citations: 6 Ohio Law Abs. 15
Docket Number: Nos. 20769 and 20770
Parties: STATE ex JOHNSON & HIGGINS CO. v. SAFFORD, Supt. of Ins. STATE ex MARSH & McLENNAN CO. v. SAFFORD, Supt. of Ins.
Judges: (Marshall, CJ., . Allen, Kinkade, Robinson, Jones and Matthias, JJ., concur.)
Reporter: The Ohio Law Abstract
Volume: 6
Pages: 15–15

Head Matter:
STATE ex JOHNSON & HIGGINS CO. v. SAFFORD, Supt. of Ins. STATE ex MARSH & McLENNAN CO. v. SAFFORD, Supt. of Ins.
Ohio Supreme Court.
Nos. 20769 and 20770.
Decided Dec. 28, 1927.

Opinion:
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.)