Pennsylvania Supreme Court Decision on Personal Jurisdiction

The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania has issued an interesting decision on personal jurisdiction: Hammons v. Ethicon, Inc., 240 A.3d 537 (2020). The majority opinion by Justice Baer begins:  

This case presents a challenge to the exercise of specific personal jurisdiction in Pennsylvania over New Jersey corporate defendants in a case filed by an Indiana resident regarding injuries allegedly caused by a pelvic mesh medical device implanted in Indiana. While the device was assembled by the defendants out of state, the mesh component of the device was manufactured by a separate entity in Pennsylvania. After reviewing recent decisions from the United States Supreme Court revising its personal jurisdiction jurisprudence, we conclude that the imposition of personal jurisdiction in this case meets the relevant constitutional and statutory requirements.

The opinion contains a nice discussion of the scope of specific jurisdiction in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision in Bristol-Myers Squibb v. Superior Court (BMS), which concludes:

We conclude that the Court in BMS did not reject its prior phrasings of specific personal jurisdiction, but rather incorporated the broader terminology emphasizing the connections between the controversy, litigation, or suit and the defendant’s actions in the forum state. Accordingly, absent further clarification from the High Court, we decline to restrict jurisdiction by focusing narrowly on the elements of plaintiff’s specific legal claims, which could unnecessarily restrict access to justice for plaintiffs. Instead, we look more broadly to determine whether the case as a whole establishes ties between the defendant’s actions in the forum state and the litigation.

A concurring opinion by Justice Donohue addresses “the propriety of considering evidence adduced for the first time at trial in support of the trial court’s ruling on preliminary objections that specific jurisdiction was established.”

Chief Justice Saylor dissents.