Also known as: universus · universities · university · corporation · juristic person
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A union of persons or things considered as a whole. The concept supplies the foundational idea of a corporation as an artificial legal entity possessing rights and duties separate from its members.
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Ulysses Usher served a notice on Union Steel identifying topics about plant safety records. Union Steel designated its safety director and two shift supervisors to testify on its behalf. The designated witnesses appeared and answered questions using information known or reasonably available to the company.
Ugo Ucelli sued Ultimate Solutions in State B after a product injury. Ultimate Solutions maintained sales offices and employed hundreds of workers in State B but was incorporated in State A with its headquarters there. The court dismissed the action for lack of general jurisdiction.
Ursula Ureña, a citizen of State X, sued Ultrasonic Dynamics after a contract dispute. Ultrasonic Dynamics was incorporated in State Y and maintained its principal place of business in State Z. The federal court treated the corporation as a citizen of both State Y and State Z for diversity purposes.
Uriel Urban served as personal representative of an estate that owned shares in Utopia Pharmaceuticals. Uriel sold the shares to a corporation in which he held a substantial interest without court approval or disclosure to the beneficiaries. A beneficiary moved to void the sale as affected by conflict of interest.
Ulric Unger, trustee of a family trust, caused the trust to purchase services from a corporation in which his spouse held a significant ownership stake. A beneficiary challenged the transaction on the ground that the corporation's interest might affect the trustee's judgment. The court examined whether the transaction involved an adverse interest.
Ugo Uberti was charged in a federal criminal case as an officer of a nongovernmental corporation. The company filed a statement identifying its parent corporation and the publicly held entity owning more than ten percent of its stock. The court accepted the filing as satisfying the disclosure requirement.
The term supplies the historical foundation for treating a corporation as a single legal person distinct from its members. Modern statutes such as 28 U.S.C. § 1332(c)(1) therefore assign citizenship to the corporation itself based on its place of incorporation and principal place of business.
The rule treats the corporation as a single entity that must speak through designated representatives. The organization therefore selects officers or other persons who can testify about information known or reasonably available to the entity as a whole.
…defined mandamus as a command issuing in the king's name from the Court of King's Bench directed to any person, corporation or inferior court requiring them to do some particular thing appertaining to their office and duty and which the court has previously determined or at least supposes to be consonant to…