Live Blogging From the Central States Law Schools Association Annual Meeting

I'm blogging live from the Central States Law Schools Association Annual Meeting being held at the University of Toledo School of Law (we're currently on break for lunch).  You can find the schedule of panelists here.  So far I've attended the "Economics, Markets, & Wealth" panel, and the "Tax Law" panel.  Of the papers presented as part of the EMW panel, I was able to find Dustin Buehler's "Economic Evolution, Jurisdictional Revolution" on SSRN.  Here's the abstract:

In June 2011, the Supreme Court issued its first personal jurisdiction decision in two decades. In J. McIntyre Machinery, Ltd. v. Nicastro, the Court considered whether the placement of a product in the "stream of commerce" subjects a nonresident manufacturer to personal jurisdiction in states where the product is distributed. The Court issued a fractured opinion with no majority rule, with some justices expressing reluctance to "refashion basic jurisdictional rules" without additional information on "modern-day consequences." This Article explores the consequences of these rules by providing the first law-and-economics analysis of personal jurisdiction. A descriptive analysis initially demonstrates that jurisdictional rules significantly misalign litigation incentives. Unclear and restrictive personal jurisdiction rules increase the likelihood of procedural disputes, inflate litigation costs, and decrease the expected benefit of suit, making it less likely that plaintiffs will file lawsuits. This in turn skewers substantive law incentives - because jurisdictional rules make litigation less likely, many injurers escape liability and are inadequately deterred from engaging in wrongful conduct. Drawing on this descriptive analysis, the Article proceeds to a normative analysis of the stream of commerce theory. It argues that a broad version of the stream of commerce doctrine best aligns procedural and substantive law incentives, while protecting fundamental due process rights. Ultimately, this Article concludes that it is time for a procedural revolution: the Supreme Court should allow expansive personal jurisdiction over nonresident manufacturers in products liability cases.

SJP