Supreme Court Issues “Another Blow” To Forum Shopping

The Supreme Court ruled 8-1 yesterday in BNSF v. Tyrell that “out-of-state plaintiffs could not sue in Montana when the railroad company in question wasn’t incorporated there, the plaintiffs didn’t live there and the injuries didn’t occur there,” writes the Wall Street Journal editorial board.

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote for the majority, stating “the Fourteenth Amendment’s Due Process Clause does not permit a State to hale an out-of-state corporation before its courts when the corporation is not ‘at home’ in the State and the episode-in-suit occurred elsewhere.”

The Supreme Court has heard several forum shopping cases this term, including a case last week in which the Court limited forum shopping in patent infringement cases. The Supreme Court is expected to provide a decision in another large forum shopping case, Bristol Meyers Squibb v. Superior Court of California, in the coming weeks.