Supreme Court: Calif. Lacks Specific Jurisdiction to Entertain Non-Resident Plavix Claims

WASHINGTON, D.C. –– The U.S. Supreme Court has held that California courts do not have personal jurisdiction over Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. in eight Plavix actions involving nearly 600 non-residents, concluding that the defendant’s decision to contract with a California company to distribute the drug “does not provide a sufficient basis for personal jurisdiction.”

In the June 19 decision released just moments ago, the nation’s highest court opined that its conclusion “will not result in the parade of horribles that respondents conjure up.”

“It does not prevent the California and out-of-state plaintiffs from joining together in a consolidated action in the …