In the case of Hughes Tool Co. et al. v. Trans World Airlines, Inc., 1964, the U.S Supreme Court was asked to decide on a dispute between Howard Hughes's tool company and Trans World Airlines (TWA). TWA had sued Hughes for mismanagement and won $145 million in damages from lower courts. The issue at hand was whether or not Howard Hughes exerted control over TWA to such an extent that it could be considered his "alter ego", thereby making him personally liable for its debts. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of TWA stating that while there were instances where corporate entities can be disregarded when they are so controlled by their owners as to make them mere instrumentalities, this wasn't one of those cases because there was no fraud or injustice involved in maintaining separate identities for Hughes Tool Company and TWA. This decision clarified the legal boundaries around personal liability within corporations and set precedent regarding when a corporation may be deemed an 'alter ego' of its owner.

In the dissenting opinion for Hughes Tool Co. et al. v. Trans World Airlines, Inc., Justice Harlan argued that the majority's decision to allow TWA to sue Howard Hughes and his company in a New York court was inconsistent with previous rulings on jurisdictional issues. He contended that under existing precedents, a corporation could only be sued where it is incorporated or has its principal place of business - neither of which applied to Hughes Tool Co in New York state. Furthermore, he disagreed with the majority's view that because TWA had suffered harm in New York due to alleged manipulations by Hughes and his company, this gave rise to personal jurisdiction over them there; instead he believed such an interpretation stretched traditional notions of fair play and substantial justice too far.