Posted by Kenneth Anderson:
Roger Alford on 9th Circuit ATS Personal Jurisdiction Case:
http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2009_09_06-2009_09_12.shtml#1252462780
Roger Alford has a [1]post up at Opinio Juris commenting on the recent
9th Circuit opinion in [2]Bauman v. Daimler-Chrysler AG. A 9th Circuit
panel held last week in this case that the court did not have
personal jurisdiction over DaimlerChrysler Corporation AG because
[corporation] did not have continuous and systematic contacts with
the forum. The case of Bauman v. DaimlerChrysler AG arose out of
the alleged kidnapping, detention and torture of Argentinian
citizens in Argentina by Argentinian state security forces acting
at the direction of Mercedes Benz Argentina. The plaintiffs sued
the parent company, DaimlerChrysler AG, and the Ninth Circuit
concluded that it lacked personal jurisdiction.
As Roger explains, given the facts, this conclusion is not at all
surprising. More surprising, as he goes on to explain, is Judge
Stephen Reinhardt's dissent, in which he argues that
promoting international human rights was a state interest that
should factor into a finding of personal jurisdiction. Reinhardt
first concluded that DaimlerChrysler AG had minimum contacts in the
forum through its American subsidiary. He then examined whether it
was reasonable to assert jurisdiction based on seven factors,
including �the state�s interest in adjudicating the suit.�
This looks very much, Roger adds, like a forum non conveniens argument
"dressed up as an assertion of personal jurisdiction." Indeed.
However, a reason I was interested in reading this opinion is that
much of my attention in Alien Tort Statute jurisdiction issues runs to
subject matter jurisdiction and to whether the plaintiffs arguments
make out bona fide Sosa violations of the law of nations, and whether
the jurisidictional subject matter is met if the claimed violator is a
corporation. I thus found it interesting to see a discussion of what
kinds of contacts are required to reach personal jurisdiction, and
then what the standard of reasonableness for the assertion of personal
jurisdiction.
References
1.
http://opiniojuris.org/2009/09/08/the-reasonableness-of-asserting-personal-jurisdiction-in-human-rights-cases/
2. http://www.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2009/08/28/07-15386.pdf
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