Can a state require a company, as a condition of doing business in the state, to consent to being sued there for any and all claims? In Mallory v. Norfolk Southern Railway Co., 599 U.S. __ (2023), the Supreme Court concluded...more
In an important case that could blow the doors open on personal jurisdiction so that corporations can be subject to suit anywhere they do business, the Supreme Court heard oral argument on Tuesday. In Mallory v. Norfolk...more
How close a connection does there need to be between a lawsuit and the defendant’s in-state activities for specific personal jurisdiction to apply? The Supreme Court issued a decision on that issue today in Ford Motor Co. v....more
The Supreme Court heard roughly an hour of oral argument on Wednesday in a pair of cases against Ford Motor Company raising important questions about the scope of personal jurisdiction. In Ford Motor Co. v. Montana Eighth...more
Despite their repeated efforts to provide guidance to lower courts, the Justices once again find themselves in a familiar position: attempting to clarify the constitutional limits on courts’ power to exercise personal...more
On January 13, 2020, the Delaware Court of Chancery (Laster, V.C.) ordered AmerisourceBergen Corp. to turn over formal board materials to stockholder plaintiffs regarding its compliance with laws and regulations relating to...more
Lower courts’ inability or refusal to confine cases to their proper fora compels the Supreme Court to spend precious docket space restating the rules governing personal jurisdiction.
The Due Process Clauses of the Fifth...more
As discussed in a prior client alert, on October 1, 2018, the Delaware Court of Chancery upheld a buyer’s termination of a merger agreement and found that the target had suffered a material adverse effect (“MAE”). Following...more
The frequently cited axiom of M&A litigation that no Delaware court has ever found a material adverse event (MAE) is no longer true. On October 1, 2018, the Court of Chancery (Laster, VC) ruled in favor of a buyer that had...more
It seems like it happens every spring: Once again, the U.S. Supreme Court has reversed a state court’s expansive view of personal jurisdiction. In BNSF Railway Co. v. Tyrrell, the Supreme Court reversed the Montana Supreme...more
In its most recent decisions on personal jurisdiction, the U.S. Supreme Court has reiterated the distinction between general personal jurisdiction on the one hand and specific personal jurisdiction on the other.
As to...more
In its most recent decisions on personal jurisdiction, the Supreme Court has reiterated the distinction between general personal jurisdiction on the one hand and specific personal jurisdiction on the other. As to the former,...more
New York’s highest court has rejected an attempt to expand the state’s common-interest doctrine, and reinstated the New York rule that the doctrine only applies in the context of actual or threatened litigation. Citing the...more
On February 25, 2014, the Supreme Court decided Walden v. Fiore, No. 12-574. The unanimous opinion reversed the Ninth Circuit’s holding that Nevada had specific personal jurisdiction over an out-of-state defendant who had...more
On January 14, 2014, the Supreme Court decided Daimler AG v. Bauman, No. 11-965—a closely watched personal jurisdiction case. In an opinion authored by Justice Ginsburg for eight Justices, the Court reversed the Ninth...more
On October 15, the Supreme Court heard oral argument in the first of two significant personal jurisdiction cases on the docket: DaimlerChrysler AG v. Bauman, No. 11-965 (cert. granted Apr. 22, 2013). At first glance,...more
On April 22, 2013, the Supreme Court granted review in another personal jurisdiction case: DaimlerChrysler AG v. Bauman, No. 11-965 (cert. granted Apr. 22, 2013). The question presented in DaimlerChrysler is “whether it...more