United States Supreme Court Holds Due Process Forbids Exercising Specific Jurisdiction Over Nonresident Plaintiffs’ Claims Against Nonresident Defendant Where Claims Did Not Arise From Defendant’s Contacts with Forum, Rejecting “Sliding Scale” Approach Giving Weight To Defendant’s “Extensive” Forum Contacts Unconnected to Plaintiffs’ Claims -

In Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. v. Superior Court, 137 S. Ct. 1773 (2017), a group of California residents and non-residents sued the manufacturer of a prescription anticoagulant for injuries allegedly caused by the drug, asserting claims that included strict product liability, negligent misrepresentation and misleading advertising. Defendant, a Delaware corporation headquartered in New York, had two research laboratories and several hundred employees in California, but did not develop the drug or its marketing strategy there, and moved to quash service of the nonresidents’ summonses for lack of personal jurisdiction.