Reed Smith attorneys James C. Martin, Lisa M. Baird, James Beck, Devin Misour and Ezekiel Rediker authored the brief. Baird is Chair of DRI’s Appellate Advocacy Committee and a member of the DRI Amicus Committee.
At issue in both cases is the test for where corporate defendants can be sued. Plaintiffs sued Ford Motor Company for product liability in the states where they were injured by allegedly defective Ford vehicles. Ford moved to dismiss the cases on personal jurisdiction grounds, contending that the courts in question lacked jurisdiction over them for these lawsuits because Ford had neither manufactured nor sold those particular vehicles in those states.
The Montana and Mississippi Supreme Courts rejected Ford’s arguments, distinguished prior U.S. Supreme Court precedents including Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. v. Superior Court of California, and concluded the states had jurisdiction over Ford for these lawsuits. The U.S. Supreme Court granted Ford’s petitions for certiorari and consolidated the cases. Oral argument has been scheduled for April 27, 2020.
According to Martin and Baird, the consolidated cases involve the test for specific personal jurisdiction, and whether the “arise out of or relate to” requirement in that test is met when none of the defendant’s forum contacts are substantively relevant to the plaintiff’s claims. The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision will be significant for all corporate defendants whose consumer goods or products are sold nationwide.
DRI’s amicus brief argues that state courts are prohibited from exercising specific personal jurisdiction over defendants like Ford unless there is a direct connection between the facts of the case and the jurisdiction in which the defendant is sued—and more particularly, a direct connection between the defendant’s contacts with the jurisdiction and the legal claims in dispute. DRI’s brief provides an analysis of the Court’s historical precedents on the issue of specific personal jurisdiction (including information drawn from Justice Harry A. Blackmun’s papers on file with The Library of Congress). The brief also articulates why due process and federalism require a focus on fairness to defendants when determining whether personal jurisdiction exists.
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