"The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld a Pennsylvania law that requires companies to consent to personal jurisdiction in state courts if they do business there.
The high court upheld the law in a 14th Amendment due process challenge by the the Norfolk Southern Railway Co. But a partial concurrence by Justice Samuel Alito indicates that the company may be able to challenge such laws on other grounds.
Stephen Sachs, a professor at Harvard Law School, summarized the decision in an email to the ABA Journal provided by a spokesperson.
“This is a very narrow decision, based heavily on precedent,” Sachs wrote. “On its face, it appears to recognize a broad ability of states to force out-of-state corporations into court, rejecting the Norfolk Southern railroad’s contrary argument under the due process clause. But in fact it, leaves the door wide open in future proceedings for the railroad to make a very similar challenge under the commerce clause, which Justice Alito—the key vote—indicated would be likely to succeed.”
Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote an opinion for the Supreme Court that was joined in full by Justices Clarence Thomas, Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson. Alito joined only some sections of Gorsuch’s opinion.
The Supreme Court ruled in the case of former railroad mechanic Robert Mallory, who wants to sue the Norfolk Southern Railway Co. in Pennsylvania state court for exposure to asbestos and chemicals in Ohio and Virginia that allegedly caused his cancer.”
This article was originally posted in the The ABA Journal
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