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Appellate Law

: North Carolina Appellate Blog

NC Case Before US Supreme Court

By Sean E. Andrussier

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Yesterday, the United States Supreme Court heard oral argument in Goodyear Luxembourg Tires v. Brown. The question before the Court was: "Whether a foreign corporation is subject to general personal jurisdiction, on causes of action not arising out of or related to any contacts between it and the forum state, merely because other entities distribute in the forum state products initially placed in the stream of commerce by the corporation." In other words, is a foreign company subject to the jurisdiction of a United States state court simply because another entity sells the foreign company's products in the United States.

The Supreme Court will be reviewing an opinion issued on August 18, 2009 by Judge Ervin of the North Carolina Court of Appeals. Judge Ervin, joined by Judges Wynn and Stephens, held that the Goodyear's foreign subsidiaries were subject to jurisdiction in North Carolina's state courts because had ?purposefully injected their products into the stream of commerce? and ?knew or should have known? that the tires would be distributed in the United States and North Carolina. The North Carolina Supreme Court denied Goodyear's petition for discretionary review on April 14, 2010.

SCOTUSblog has a variety of informative posts on the case: