I. TWO SCOTUS DECISIONS THAT MATTERED -

A. Litigation Tourism, Type 1: Bristol-Myers Squibb. -

If you are sued by a “litigation tourist” in a class or mass action and suit is not brought in your home state, you now have a no-jurisdiction defense.

In Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. v. Superior Court, 137 S. Ct. 1773, 1781 (2017), the U.S. Supreme Court held that California lacked personal jurisdiction in a case brought by out-of-state consumers against an out-of-state defendant. The California Supreme Court thought that California could exercise “specific” jurisdiction based on the company’s significant marketing activities and personnel based in California and because defendant had contracted with a California distributor to distribute the drug nationally, especially where the resident and nonresidents all alleged the same injury. The Supreme Court said no...