WLF Asks Supreme Court to Fix Chaotic Personal Jurisdiction Rules

“There’s nothing fair about bringing a Korean company to a Minnesota court because a downstream vape shop sold a smashed-open product that hurt somebody.”
—Zac Morgan, WLF Senior Litigation Counsel

Click here to read WLF’s brief.

(Washington, DC)—Washington Legal Foundation (WLF) today urged the U.S. Supreme Court to take a case that asks whether a Minnesota state court can exercise jurisdiction over a foreign national company for an injury caused by the intentional breaking-and-misuse of its product by a third party.

Samsung SDI makes sealed battery packs and sells them to three carefully vetted manufacturers in Minnesota for use in industrial cleaners, power tools, and golf carts. But this case isn’t about a tipped-over golf cart. It’s about an exploding e-cigarette. Some unscrupulous vendors sell “jailbroken” Samsung battery cells—not the pack itself—to power a vaping product. But since the cell isn’t designed for that purpose, it can ignite and cause injury. That’s a tort, but not one Samsung caused.

WLF’s amicus brief counsels the Court to take the case for two reasons. First, the Supreme Court has repeatedly affirmed that there are “real limits” to a state’s ability to claim personal jurisdiction. But the Court has failed to draw clear lines around those limits. This case affords the opportunity to clarify that the intentional jailbreaking of a product by an intervening vendor isn’t enough to bring an innocent seller into court. Second, if the United States is going to win the strategic competition with China, it needs to ensure a predictable legal environment at home to encourage “friend-shoring” from companies based in allies and partners like the Republic of Korea.