On September 11, 2025, the NAM filed an amicus brief asking the Superior Court of Pennsylvania to hear and overturn a lower court order rejecting manufacturing defendants’ motion to transfer a series of toxic tort cases with no connection to Pennsylvania out of the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas. The In re: Paraquat cases are pending in the Philadelphia Mass Tort Program, yet the vast majority of the plaintiffs reside outside of Pennsylvania, they were exposed to the product at issue outside of Pennsylvania, and their treatment occurred outside of Pennsylvania. Their only tie to the forum is that one of the defendants is incorporated there.
In our brief, the NAM argues that these cases mut be transferred based on the doctrine of forum non conveniens. In support of this position, we emphasize that these foreign plaintiffs have no meaningful connection to the state of Pennsylvania, their choice of this forum is based solely on Philadelphia’s reputation as a “plaintiff-friendly” jurisdiction and, if allowed to stand, the lower court’s order will further encourage this type of forum shopping. Finally, the NAM notes that Pennsylvania’s consent-by-registration statute, paired with the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Mallory v. Norfolk Southern, make personal jurisdiction and venue defenses virtually unavailable, rendering forum non conveniens all the more important.