Recent Decisions on Specific Personal Jurisdiction in the United States Civil Procedure

In the U.S. Civil Procedure, personal jurisdiction is categorized into specific jurisdiction (or case-specific jurisdiction) and general jurisdiction (or all-purpose jurisdiction). Specific jurisdiction or case-specific jurisdiction may be asserted when the cause of action arises out of or relates to the contacts with the forum state even if the defendant's contacts with the state are isolated or sporadic. General jurisdiction may be referred when the cause of action does not arise from or relate to the defendant's contacts with the forum state. This paper looks over three U.S. Supreme Court cases on specific jurisdiction, J. McIntyre Machinery, Ltd. v. Nicastro in 2011, Walden v. Fiore in 2014, and Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. v. Superior Court of California, San Francisco County in 2017. Specific jurisdiction in all three cases was denied on different grounds. Here, the review of these three cases will help to grasp how the U.S. Supreme Court has interpreted and applied the long-established principles of specific jurisdiction, especially for litigation practices in the future.