Keywords
general jurisdiction, jurisdiction, personal jurisdiction, Daimler AG v. Bauman, Daimler, International Shoe Co. v. Washington, International Shoe, domicile, specific jurisdiction
Abstract
In personal jurisdiction, an intellectual siloing has prevented some courts from using a basis of jurisdiction over individuals that is available for corporations. This Article explores this question. Jurisdiction in such a case turns on whether general jurisdiction based on a large number of unrelated contacts--contacts-based general jurisdiction--applies to individuals as well as to corporations. The short answer is that despite hesitancy in the cases, such jurisdiction has historically been invoked and this is a correct result as a matter of due process doctrine. One aim of this Article is to dispel the doubt on this point that unnecessarily persists. A second question is how the test of Daimler applies to individuals. Third, one may wonder about this question’s practical importance. Given the availability of specific jurisdiction in the place where the events giving rise to the litigation occurred and general jurisdiction both where the defendant is domiciled and where he or she might be served with process, when is an additional place of jurisdiction useful? Part I briefly lays out the law of contacts-based general jurisdiction over corporations to provide the background of how that law might apply to individuals. The Article then proceeds chronologically. Part II examines the case law employing what we would now call general jurisdiction over individuals in the pre-Shoe era. Along the way, it reviews jurisdiction from that era based on domicile and then moves to cases asserting general jurisdiction over individuals despite an absence of domicile or in-state service. Part III then examines contacts-based general jurisdiction over individuals in the modern, post-International Shoe era. Part IV assesses this branch of jurisdiction under the due process doctrine, finding it valid. Part V distills from the case law several fact patterns where one might find valid
Recommended Citation
Jeffrey L. Rensberger,
There’s No Place Like Essentially at Home: General Jurisdiction Over Individuals Apart From Domicile and Presence,
77 Ark. L. Rev.
(2025).
Available at:
https://scholarworks.uark.edu/alr/vol77/iss4/4
