Does corporate 'personhood' apply to the HOV lane?

[lavenderdiva]

I just noticed this article this morning in the Houston Chronicle, even though it was originally written January 7th:

link here: http://www.chron.com/news/houston-traffic/article/Man-caught-alone-in-HOV-poses-odd-legal-argument-4172615.php

snip:
A California man's unique argument over a traffic ticket may pose questions about whether corporations should be legally defined as people, according to The Pacific Sun.

Jonathan Frieman was issued a $478 ticket for driving in an HOV lane without a second passenger. However, Frieman plans to argue in court today that corporate incorporation papers in his car should constitute his second passenger, The Pacific Sun reported.

Under California vehicle code, a person is defined as a "natural person, firm, co-partnership, association, limited-liability company or corporation." Texas' Transportation Code has a nearly identical definition of a person.

"Corporations are imaginary entities, and we've let them run wild," Frieman said in a news release. "Their original intent 200 years ago at the dawn of our nation was to serve human beings. So I'm wrestling back that power by making their personhood serve me."

It's an interesting notion, but can it overturn the Supreme Court's declaration that corporations are 'persons'?

[In_The_Wind]

1. It Should Not.

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[Orrex]

2. Only if the corporation is driving.

[leftyohiolib]

3. no corps are people but they are not natural people

[cthulu2016]

4. The Supreme Court has never said that corporations are persons

The Supreme Court has, in several contexts, said that corporations have the legal status of persons in specific legal situations.

Being a passenger in a car is not one of those. A corporation cannot be a passenger in a car... a corporation does not have a corporeal form, and does not require transportation for itself.

A corporation can, however, be a party in a lawsuit. It it did not have personhood for that purpose you couldn't sue a corporation. You cannot sue a rock or a cat or a color.

[Nye Bevan]

5. Even if you accept that a corporation is a person, "incorporation papers" are not a corporation.

That's like saying I should be allowed in the HOV lane if I put my wife's birth certificate on the front passenger seat.