On September 16, 2024, the NAM filed an amicus brief asking the Alabama Supreme Court to review and reverse a trial court’s refusal to dismiss a case against a components manufacturer for lack of personal jurisdiction. In this case, Plaintiff is an Alabama water system. It alleges that the defendant sold PFAS-containing carpet fibers to carpet mills in Georgia; that those carpet mills contracted with a Georgia wastewater processor; that the processor allegedly discharged PFAS-containing wastewater into a river; and that the river carried the wastewater from Georgia to Alabama. Despite INV having no presence in the state and no ability to control where its carpet fibers ended up, Plaintiff sued INV along with other defendants in Alabama state court, asserting various tort causes of action stemming from the alleged harm caused by the wastewater. The trial court denied INV’s motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction.
Our amicus brief underscores that under U.S. Supreme Court precedent, the contacts with a forum state that give rise to personal jurisdiction must be a defendant’s own contacts and that third parties’ contacts with the forum state do not count. Exercising personal jurisdiction based on a third party’s contracts would hurt small component part manufacturers who cannot foresee the end destination of their products.