Appellate Court: Asbestos Plaintiffs Failed to Show ‘Snow Drift’ Manufacturer Targeted Utah Consumers

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah –– A Utah appellate court has reversed an order conferring jurisdiction over the manufacturer of the product Snow Drift, which the plaintiffs asserted contained asbestos, saying that merely placing the product into the stream of commerce with the knowledge that it could be swept into the forum state does not subject the manufacturer to personal jurisdiction.

In a June 20 opinion, the Utah Court of Appeals stated that the stream of commerce theory requires “some act” on the part of the defendant to show that the company “purposefully avails itself of the privilege of conducting activities …