Many lawyers in the defense bar described Monday's landmark decision by the U.S. Supreme Court in Bristol-Myers Squibb v. Superior Court of California as “a game changer,” the National Law Journal reported today. Even plaintiffs lawyers concede that Bristol-Myers took a hatchet to a lucrative growth area in mass torts: Lawsuits brought on behalf of dozens of individuals in venues considered more favorable to plaintiffs, such as certain state courts in California, Illinois, Missouri and Texas. The court held that plaintiffs in such a case against Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. — referred to as a "mass action" — had failed to establish specific jurisdiction because there wasn't enough of a link between their claims and California, where they brought their lawsuit. The ruling, like many of the Supreme Court's prior decisions on jurisdictional matters, tightened the rules on where corporate defendants can be sued.
