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Supreme Court extends protections for multinational companies
The Washington Post ^ | January 14, 2014 | Robert Barnes

Posted on 01/14/2014 1:17:18 PM PST by Lurking Libertarian

The Supreme Court on Tuesday extended protection for multinational companies from lawsuits in the United States over conduct that took place in other countries.

The justices threw out a case in California that sought damages from Daimler AG for its alleged complicity in atrocities committed in Argentina’s 1976-to-1983 “Dirty War.” The company manufactures Mercedes-Benz automobiles and has a subsidiary, Mercedes-Benz USA, that does business in California and other states.

But Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, writing for a unanimous court, said those connections were too tenuous to mean the company could be sued in U.S. courts.

Ginsburg said that under the arguments of the plaintiffs — Argentines who say they or their relatives were harmed in the Dirty War — California is a “place where Daimler may be sued on any and all claims against it, wherever in the world the claims may arise.”

Such a view is “so exorbitant” that due process is violated, she said.

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Constitution/Conservatism; Government; US: California
KEYWORDS: delaware; globalism; jurisdiction; multinational; offshore; scotus
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This is an important decision, cutting back on the concept of "general jurisdiction."

Background: suppose a driver from California gets into a car accident in Nevada. The other driver can sue the Californian in Utah, because that's where the accident happened. This is called "specific jurisdiction."

Or, the other driver can sue the Californian in California, because that's his home state. The case has nothing to do with California, but a California resident can be sued in his home state for anything he did anywhere in the world. That's called "general jurisdiction."

In the case of a corporation, many states (especially, but certainly not exclusively, California) said that there was general jurisdiction over a corporation that did a lot of business in the state, because that state was like its "home." What the Court did today-- and this changes a lot of law in a lot of states-- is to say that a corporation's "home" is only where its headquarters is. So a corporation is still subject to "specific jurisdiction" in any state where it (allegedly) did something wrong, but is subject to "general jurisdiction" only in its real "home."

1 posted on 01/14/2014 1:17:18 PM PST by Lurking Libertarian
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To: Lurking Libertarian
The other driver can sue the Californian in Utah

That should have been "sue the Californian in Nevada." Ooops!

2 posted on 01/14/2014 1:19:13 PM PST by Lurking Libertarian (Non sub homine, sed sub Deo et lege)
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To: BuckeyeTexan
SCOTUS ping.

This isn't a "hot button" issue like abortion or gay marriage, but will have a huge impact on the day-to-day work of lawyers.

3 posted on 01/14/2014 1:21:01 PM PST by Lurking Libertarian (Non sub homine, sed sub Deo et lege)
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To: Lurking Libertarian
I wonder if this will have any impact on the IRS going after foreign banks that they accuse of helping Americans hide money from the taxman offshore “the old Swiss Bank Account”... Even though it might be perfectly legal in the country the bank is headquartered in...
4 posted on 01/14/2014 1:24:56 PM PST by apillar
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To: Lurking Libertarian

I don’t like multi-nationals. I think they serve one-worlders and work to achieve a one-wolrd government.


5 posted on 01/14/2014 1:25:55 PM PST by ZULU (Magua is sitting in the Oval Office. Ted Cruz/Phil Robertson in 2016.)
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To: apillar
I wonder if this will have any impact on the IRS going after foreign banks that they accuse of helping Americans hide money from the taxman offshore “the old Swiss Bank Account”... Even though it might be perfectly legal in the country the bank is headquartered in...

Probably not, because those cases use a "specific jurisdiction" theory (aiding and abetting a U.S. citizen to commit a crime in the U.S.).

6 posted on 01/14/2014 1:34:47 PM PST by Lurking Libertarian (Non sub homine, sed sub Deo et lege)
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To: ZULU
I don’t like multi-nationals.

This decision also protects U.S. corporations from being sued outside the state where they are incorporated or where their headquarters are.

7 posted on 01/14/2014 1:36:20 PM PST by Lurking Libertarian (Non sub homine, sed sub Deo et lege)
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To: Lurking Libertarian

Well, that is a positive.


8 posted on 01/14/2014 1:46:11 PM PST by ZULU (Magua is sitting in the Oval Office. Ted Cruz/Phil Robertson in 2016.)
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To: ZULU
I don’t like multi-nationals. I think they serve one-worlders and work to achieve a one-wolrd government.

Not a big fan myself, but the Court had to draw a rational jurisdiction line somewhere. If you can sue in a California court for something that happened in Argentina in 1976, then why not in the Ottoman Empire of the 1880's? Or Ancient Rome? Or on Mars?


9 posted on 01/14/2014 1:55:55 PM PST by Buckeye McFrog
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To: Lurking Libertarian

I don’t like multi-nationals. I think they serve one-worlders and work to achieve a one-world government.

*********

Fortunately, due process of law does not depend on whether a defendant is liked. Most of those who surf this site would not be liked by a whole lot of people.


10 posted on 01/14/2014 2:09:57 PM PST by Socon-Econ ( is no model of USA-style democracy)
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To: Lurking Libertarian
From the story it appears that the Mercedes subsidiary corp. that operates in Cal. was being sued for claims against the parent corp.

And the court said the connection of the two did not permit this.

11 posted on 01/14/2014 2:32:02 PM PST by count-your-change (you don't have to be brilliant, not being stupid is enough)
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To: count-your-change
From the story it appears that the Mercedes subsidiary corp. that operates in Cal. was being sued for claims against the parent corp. And the court said the connection of the two did not permit this.

When the Supreme Court granted cert. in this case, everybody thought that that was the issue the Court would decide. But what's significant is that the decision was much broader-- the Court didn't focus only on the parent/subsidiary issue, but on the idea that a corporation only has one "home" jurisdiction.

12 posted on 01/14/2014 2:57:29 PM PST by Lurking Libertarian (Non sub homine, sed sub Deo et lege)
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To: Lurking Libertarian

Thanks! It’s a story that deserves a more in depth coverage.


13 posted on 01/14/2014 3:01:49 PM PST by count-your-change (you don't have to be brilliant, not being stupid is enough)
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To: Lurking Libertarian
The bigger issue is that so many of these multi-national corporations were being sued in the U.S. because we're probably the only country in the world that would even bother allowing our courts to be clogged with this kind of nonsense.

If someone has a problem with what Daimler AG did in Argentina, then they should deal with it in Argentina -- or in Germany.

14 posted on 01/14/2014 4:32:52 PM PST by Alberta's Child ("I've never seen such a conclave of minstrels in my life.")
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To: Lurking Libertarian; Perdogg; JDW11235; Clairity; TheOldLady; Spacetrucker; Art in Idaho; GregNH; ..

FReepmail me to subscribe to or unsubscribe from the SCOTUS ping list.

15 posted on 01/14/2014 6:46:33 PM PST by BuckeyeTexan (There are those that break and bend. I'm the other kind. ~Steve Earle)
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To: Alberta's Child
The bigger issue is that so many of these multi-national corporations were being sued in the U.S. because we're probably the only country in the world that would even bother allowing our courts to be clogged with this kind of nonsense. If someone has a problem with what Daimler AG did in Argentina, then they should deal with it in Argentina -- or in Germany.

In a case decided last year (while this case was still making its way through the lower courts), the Supreme Court shut down most attempts to use U.S. courts to remedy human rights abuses overseas. So the Court had an easy way to get rid of this case on that ground. What is significant is that, instead of taking that route, the Court reached out to decide this case on a much broader ground, one that will apply to any attempt to sue an American or foreign corporation outside its home state or country.

What is even more significant is that the decision was almost unanimous. (Ginsburg, usually considered a "liberal," wrote the decision; no one dissented; only Sotomayor didn't join Ginsburg's opinion, but even she would have reversed, albeit on much narrower grounds.)

16 posted on 01/14/2014 7:44:54 PM PST by Lurking Libertarian (Non sub homine, sed sub Deo et lege)
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To: Lurking Libertarian; BuckeyeTexan

Have either of you made a prediction on the NLRB case before SCOTUS? It seemed that the Obama Admins main case was the inconvenience of undoing so many decisions. I didn’t see any strong Constitutional arguments made, but I felt that way about the ACA.


17 posted on 01/14/2014 8:13:16 PM PST by 1010RD (First, Do No Harm)
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To: Lurking Libertarian

That’s interesting because a corporation could place its headquarters in a very difficult jurisdiction for lawsuits, one that had a high hurdle and limitations on penalties for a plaintiff and strong protections and bars for a defendant. I wonder what the Justices were thinking. Have you read their decision?

We don’t want frivolous lawsuits, but we do want lawsuits with a firm foundation to go forward. I wonder if they shut the door too hard on this one. They are, after all, just human.


18 posted on 01/14/2014 8:19:02 PM PST by 1010RD (First, Do No Harm)
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To: 1010RD
I would bet that the NLRB appointments are voided; the interesting question is whether it's going to be on a narrow ground or a broader one.

That the President can't tell the Senate that it's in recess when it says it isn't is a no-brainer: I wouldn't be surprised to see 8 or even 9 votes to overturn the appointments on that ground.

The broader ground which has been argued is that, even when the Senate is in recess, the President can appoint someone only if the vacancy happened during that recess. The text of the Constitution literally says that, but every President since Andrew Jackson (really) has ignored that limitation. If the Court decides on that ground, then the whole Recess Appointment power becomes essentially a nullity. (And, as the Obama Administration has pointed out to the Court, that means that Dwight Eisenhower's appointment as the General of the Armies in WWII was illegal.)

19 posted on 01/14/2014 8:27:20 PM PST by Lurking Libertarian (Non sub homine, sed sub Deo et lege)
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To: 1010RD
We don’t want frivolous lawsuits, but we do want lawsuits with a firm foundation to go forward. I wonder if they shut the door too hard on this one. They are, after all, just human.

A corporation can still be sued in any state where it did something wrong (that's "specific jurisdiction"-- see my post #1 on this thread). That is usually enough to permit meritorious cases.

What this decision is about is "general jurisdiction"-- suing a corporation in State A for something it allegedly did in State [or country] B. SCOTUS said ages ago that such a suit could be brought in the corporation's "home" state, but a lot of states have interpreted that to mean "anywhere it does a lot of business." SCOTUS today said, no, a corporation only has one "home" (or possibly two-- the state of incorporation and the state where its headquarters are).

20 posted on 01/14/2014 8:34:15 PM PST by Lurking Libertarian (Non sub homine, sed sub Deo et lege)
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