Supreme Court Expands Scope of Personal Jurisdiction Over Corporations

Case: Mallory v. Norfolk Southern Railway Co. (June 27, 2023)

The United States Supreme Court recently ruled that corporations are subject to the general personal jurisdiction of states in which they register to do business if the state has a consent-by-registration statute.  The Court expanded on its landmark ruling in International Shoe, which held that corporations are subject to the general jurisdiction of states in which they are either incorporated or maintain their principal place of business, and added a third trigger for general jurisdiction: when the corporation has registered to do business in a State that has “a law making registration sufficient for suit on any cause (as every State could do).”  Though these types of statutes are currently rare, it is plausible that many States will enact such statutes henceforth, making corporations procedurally liable wherever they do business. 

Because personal jurisdiction is the authority of a court to issue judgments that bind the parties before it, this decision has sweeping ramifications for corporate lawsuits.

Source: Supreme Court Expands Scope of Personal Jurisdiction Over Corporations