Ever since the United States Supreme Court's 2014 decision in Daimler A.G. v. Bauman, 134 S. Ct. 746 (2014), in which the Court held that general personal jurisdiction exists over a corporation only where the corporation is fairly regarded as “at home,” many plaintiffs and state courts have attempted to distinguish Daimler in an effort to expand the boundaries of a court’s exercise of personal jurisdiction. It should come as no surprise then that the U.S. Supreme Court, with five personal jurisdiction cases before it and its Daimler decision seemingly under attack, ultimately decided to grant review of two such cases in 2017: BNSF Railway Co. v. Tyrrell, and Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. v. The Superior Court of San Francisco County, which attack the Daimler holding from very different perspectives.
As you may recall from your first year law school basics, personal jurisdiction requires, among other things, that the “the defendant’s conduct and connection with the forum state are such that he should reasonably anticipate being haled into court there.” World-Wide Volkswagen Corp. v. Woodson, 444 U.S. 286, 297 (1980). This can be established through either specific jurisdiction, where the defendant has sufficient contacts with the forum state which directly relate to the underlying controversy, or general jurisdiction, where “the [ defendant’s] affiliations with the [forum s]tate are so ‘continuous and systematic’ as to render them essentially at home in the forum [s]tate.” Daimler, 134 S. Ct. at 748-49, 760.
BNSF Railway, begs the question as to whether a state court may decline to follow the Supreme Court's decision in Daimler, as The Montana Supreme Court directly challenged the limitations on general personal jurisdiction established by the Daimler Court. It did so by holding that the Federal Employers Liability Act (“FELA”) essentially creates an exception to the “at home” requirements of Daimler. The plaintiffs in BNSF Railway are two employees who seek damages from the company pursuant to FELA, which provides railroad employees with a federal cause of action for personal injuries caused by their employer’s negligence. Neither plaintiff resides in Montana, nor did the injuries occur in Montana. Yet, plaintiffs brought suit in Montana. Under Daimler, BNSF should not have been considered “at home” in Montana, as it is incorporated in Delaware and has its principal place of business in Texas. Despite these facts, the Montana Supreme Court held that Montana courts could exercise general jurisdiction over BNSF. The Montana Supreme Court reasoned that Section 56 of FELA allows a plaintiff to bring suit in any federal district court in which the defendant does business, and also confers concurrent jurisdiction over FELA suits to state courts. As such, the Court reasoned that state courts should have general jurisdiction in FELA matters over defendants in any state in which the defendant did business. Tyrrell v. BNSF Ry. Co., 373 P.3d 1 (Mont. 2016).
As previously reported, in Bristol-Myers Squibb the California Supreme Court took a different approach to challenging the limits of the exercise of personal jurisdiction. Instead of directly attacking Daimler’s holding concerning the limits of general personal jurisdiction, the California Supreme Court used specific personal jurisdiction as a tool to enlarge the Court’s power to exercise personal jurisdiction over a foreign corporation. In Bristol-Myers Squibb, the California Supreme Court expressly held, consistent with Daimler, that Bristol-Myers Squibb was not subject to general personal jurisdiction in California, as its contacts with the state were not substantial enough to render it “at home” in the jurisdiction. It held, however, that specific personal jurisdiction existed over Bristol-Myers Squibb in California—even for plaintiffs who were not injured in California—based on its “purposeful availment” of the benefits and privileges of the laws of the State of California as a result of its “nationwide marketing, promotion and distribution [that] created a substantial nexus between the non-resident plaintiffs’ claims and the company’s contacts in California . . . .” Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. v. Superior Court, No. S221038, 2016 WL 4506107(Cal. Aug. 29, 2016).
Of the two decisions, Bristol-Myers Squibb may be the most troublesome for defendants, particularly product manufacturers. That is because the California Supreme Court’s “purposeful availment” test essentially guts Daimler and effectively would subject product manufacturers to personal jurisdiction in every state in which they sell their products. Accordingly, 2017 could be a game changer when it comes to personal jurisdiction, including the impact it has on a corporation’s ability to be sued, and potential forum shopping by plaintiffs. We should note, however, that in 2010 the U.S. Supreme Court expressed the need for clear jurisdictional rules in order to allow businesses predictability as to where they are subject to suits. The Hertz Corp., v. Friend, 130 S. Ct. 1181 (2010). Given the impact of both BNSF Railway and Bristol-Myers Squibb, the Court may take this opportunity to do just that in terms of both general and specific personal jurisdiction. Stay tuned…