[2] In this case, C. J. Dick was a resident of Texas, but was living in Mexico, where he was operating a tugboat for a Mexican company.

The tugboat was lost in a fire, and Dick returned to Texas to file a lawsuit against two New York-based reinsurers of the Mexican corporation that owned the boat.

Later analysts have questioned whether the true facts of the case were really before the courts as it reached various levels of appeal: Dick arose when a boat burned in Mexico.

Finally Dick contended that the Constitution does not require states to recognize laws of foreign countries.

Within a few decades after the decision, the Supreme Court had also enunciated doctrines that would largely foreclose personal jurisdiction over the defendant in cases such as this.