## Facts

- Herwig Schlunk, as administrator of his parents’ estates, filed an Illinois wrongful-death action alleging vehicle defects caused or contributed to a fatal automobile accident.
- The initial defendant, Volkswagen of America, Inc. (VWoA), asserted it did not design or assemble the vehicle.
- Schlunk amended the complaint to add Volkswagenwerk Aktiengesellschaft (VWAG), a German corporation and sole owner of VWoA.
- Schlunk attempted to serve VWAG by serving VWoA in Illinois, relying on Illinois law treating the domestic subsidiary as the foreign parent’s agent for service of process.
- VWAG appeared specially and moved to quash service, contending service was valid only if performed in compliance with the Hague Service Convention.

## Issues

1. Whether the Hague Service Convention applies when a foreign corporation is served in a U.S. action by serving its domestic subsidiary deemed, under forum-state law, to be the foreign corporation’s agent for service.
2. Whether Article 1’s requirement of an “occasion to transmit” documents abroad is triggered when forum law treats service as complete within the United States.

## Decision

- The Supreme Court unanimously affirmed the Illinois Appellate Court (Justice O’Connor).
- The Court held the Hague Service Convention does not apply when process is served on a foreign corporation by serving its domestic subsidiary that, under state law, is the foreign corporation’s involuntary agent for service.
- Because Illinois law treated service on VWoA as legally sufficient service on VWAG, service was completed in Illinois and did not require transmission of documents abroad.

## Legal Principles

- The Hague Service Convention applies only when there is an “occasion to transmit a judicial or extrajudicial document for service abroad” within the meaning of Article 1.
- For Convention purposes, “service” is the formal delivery of documents that is legally sufficient to charge the defendant with notice of a pending action.
- The Convention does not supply the standard for when delivery is legally sufficient; forum-state law governs what constitutes valid service.
- If forum law provides a method of service that does not require sending documents abroad (including service on a domestic agent, even one deemed an “involuntary” agent), the Convention’s mandatory procedures are not triggered.

## Conclusion

The Court held that the Hague Service Convention is mandatory only when forum law requires service to be accomplished by transmitting documents abroad; when state law deems a domestic subsidiary to be the foreign parent’s agent for service and service is completed domestically, the Convention does not apply.


Volkswagenwerk Aktiengesellschaft v. Schlunk, 486 U.S. 694 (1988)