Applying BMS/Bauman in Other Personal Jurisdiction Contexts—The Defense Position

With last term’s 8–1 Supreme Court decision in Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. v. Superior Court, 137 S. Ct. 1773 (2017) (BMS), added to the unanimous decision in Daimler AG v. Bauman, 571 U.S. 117 (2014), defendants should argue for universal application of the personal jurisdiction due process principles these decisions espouse. Two particular applications of these principles are (1) enforcing the “arising from”/“related to” test for “case-linked” specific jurisdiction and (2) the incompatibility of BMS/Bauman with nationwide class actions—except when brought in jurisdictions where defendants are “at home.”