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The Question of Personal Jurisdiction

February 3, 2016 By Michelle Potter Leave a Comment

150x150Personal jurisdiction has been a hot topic in asbestos litigation circles ever since the U.S. Supreme Court case Daimler AG vs Bauman in 2014, which essentially ruled that a defendant can only be sued in a state that is its principal place of business, or a state where it is incorporated.

This ruling caught the eye of asbestos defendants, in part because an increasing number of plaintiffs are suing defendants in states where neither the plaintiff nor defendant has any ties. In other words, the plaintiff may not live in the state, nor have been exposed to a defendant’s product in the state. So the question becomes: should such a plaintiff be able to sue a company in that state?

Asbestos defendants are taking that question to the courts in hopes of getting dismissed from cases in states where they do not do business. This issue, however, has proved to be more complicated in court.  The courts seem to be taking this issue on a case-by-case basis, ruling very differently at times. An article in the National Law Review highlights two recent cases in Madison County, Illinois. Madison County is arguably the “hot bed” for asbestos cases in the U.S., with 48% of mesothelioma filings and 25% of all asbestos litigation filings in 2015, according to KCIC’s analysis of at least 90% of the total asbestos filings in the U.S. (and likely more).

In the first case, the plaintiff at least lived in Illinois, but since he could neither prove exposure in Illinois, nor prove the defendant did a substantial amount of business in Illinois, the court sided with the defendant. In the second case, the plaintiff did not even live in Illinois. He also could not claim exposure in Illinois. It would appear those two facts would negate personal jurisdiction, but the defendant sold products in Illinois and submitted briefs in other cases that seemed to argue that the defendant did have a substantial presence in Illinois. Therefore, the court found the defendant had a “home” in Illinois and thus can be sued in Illinois, despite the plaintiff’s state of residence or place of alleged exposure.

The decisions show that issues of personal jurisdiction are not always clear. As more defendants fight this issue, it will be interesting to see what, if any, precedents the courts point to in their rulings.

Filed Under: Dispute Resolution Tagged With: Asbestos, asbestos defendants, asbestos litigation, Claims, claims administration, Daimler AG vs Bauman, insurance, Madison County, mesothelioma, personal jurisdiction, plaintiff, U.S. Supreme Court

Michelle Potter

About Michelle Potter

Michelle Potter has more than 15 years of experience providing accounting- and financial-related consulting services to policyholder clients and their legal counsel on a variety of insurance-related issues. She oversees KCIC’s consulting teams, client relationships, and the development of our claims administration and product liability services.

Meet the Contributors

Jonathan TerrellJonathan Terrell
Dan SnyderDan Snyder
Nick SochurekNick Sochurek
Megan ShockleyMegan Shockley
Carrie ScottCarrie Scott
Michelle PotterMichelle Potter
Andrew PetryszakAndrew Petryszak
Chris MonahanChris Monahan
Elizabeth HankeElizabeth Hanke
Nancy GutzlerNancy Gutzler
Chris CrookChris Crook

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