Mass Torts and Jurisdiction – The Battles Continue, Now in California

The jurisdiction wars continue in tort cases, as more state court cases follow on from SCOTUS’ decision limiting assertion of personal jurisdiction in Daimler AG v. Bauman.  Fairly soon, the issues will move forward another step as the California Supreme Court will hear June 2, 2016 arguments regarding the appeal in Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. v. Superior Court of San Francisco County, No. A140035 (Cal. App. July 30, 2014). The issues in BMS arise because it filed a petition for writ of mandate to reverse the trial court’s ruling upholding personal jurisdiction in a set of “mass tort” cases involving hundreds of claims about alleged defects in Plavix. See this Law Professors blog post for more background.  One has to wonder if defendants need to be careful what they wish for.

A hat tip and thanks to Laurie Hepler, a very smart California appellate lawyer, for flagging notable product liability cases being set for argument.