Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. v. Superior Court of California

Facts

Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS), a large pharmaceutical company, is incorporated in Delaware and headquartered in New York, and it has substantial operations in New York and New Jersey. It also does business in California. Five research and laboratory facilities there employ around 160 people, about 250 sales representatives work in the State, and BMS keeps a small state-government advocacy office in Sacramento. BMS makes and sells Plavix, a prescription drug that thins the blood and inhibits clotting. It did not develop Plavix, create its marketing strategy, or manufacture, label, package, or work on regulatory approval of the drug in California. It did all of that in New York or New Jersey. But BMS did sell Plavix in California. Between 2006 and 2012, it sold almost 187 million pills there and took in more than $900 million, a little over 1 percent of its nationwide sales revenue. A group of plaintiffs, 86 California residents and 592 residents of 33 other States, filed eight complaints in California Superior Court alleging that Plavix damaged their health. They asserted 13 claims under California law, including products liability, negligent misrepresentation, and misleading advertising. The nonresidents did not allege that they got Plavix through California physicians or any other California source. They also did not claim that Plavix injured them in California or that they were treated there.

Issues

1. Does a California court have specific personal jurisdiction over nonresident plaintiffs' claims against BMS, when those plaintiffs were not prescribed, did not buy or take, and were not injured by Plavix in California?
2. Can a defendant's extensive forum contacts unrelated to the claims, or its contract with a California distributor, make up for the lack of a connection between the forum and the nonresidents' specific claims?

Holding

The California courts lacked specific jurisdiction over the nonresidents' claims against BMS. Those plaintiffs were not prescribed, did not obtain or take, and were not injured by Plavix in California, so nothing tied their claims to the State. The Fourteenth Amendment's Due Process Clause bars that exercise of jurisdiction.