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Ford Motor Company v. Montana Eighth Judicial District Court, et al.

Paid petition · Supreme Court of Montana, No. OP 19-0099 · judgment May 21, 2019

Decided · March 25, 2021
Pre-decision estimate: 2% cert probability

Before the decision, well below the 4.1% base rate, with no standout signals pointing toward a grant.

Question presented

Consolidated with 19-369. The Due Process Clause permits a state court to exercise specific personal jurisdiction over a non-resident defendant only when the plaintiff’s claims “arise out of or relate to" the defendant's forum activities. Burger King Corp. v. Rudzewicz, 471 U.S. 462, 472 (1985) (internal quotation marks omitted). The question presented is: Whether the “arise out of or relate to" requirement is met when none of the defendant's forum contacts caused the plaintiff’s claims, such that the plaintiff’s claims would be the same even if the defendant had no forum contacts.

Counsel of record

For petitioner
Sean Marotta
Hogan Lovells US LLP

For respondent
Deepak Gupta
Gupta Wessler LLP

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 2 conferences

Amicus briefs
2 cert-stage · 19 merits
(8 supporting pet./neither, 11 respondent)

Argument & decision

Argued October 7, 2020 — Sean Marotta · Deepak Gupta. Audio and transcript

Decided March 25, 2021. Opinion by Kagan.

Proceedings

  1. Apr 26 2021
    MANDATE ISSUED.
  2. Apr 26 2021
    JUDGMENT ISSUED.
  3. Mar 25 2021
    Adjudged to be AFFIRMED. Kagan, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which Roberts, C. J., and Breyer, Sotomayor, and Kavanaugh, JJ., joined. Alito, J., filed an opinion concurring in the judgment. Gorsuch, J., filed an opinion concurring in the judgment, in which Thomas, J., joined. Barrett, J., took no part in the consideration or decision of the cases. VIDED.
  4. Dec 16 2020
    Record from the 8th Judicial District Court of Montana electronically received.
  5. Oct 07 2020
    Argued. For petitioner: Sean Marotta, Washington, D.C. For respondents: Deepak Gupta, Washington, D. C. VIDED.
  6. Jul 13 2020
    SET FOR ARGUMENT on Wednesday, October 7, 2020. VIDED.
  7. Apr 29 2020
    Reply of petitioner Ford Motor Company filed. VIDED. (Distributed)
  8. Apr 20 2020
    Motion of the Solicitor General for leave to participate in oral argument as amicus curiae and for divided argument DENIED. VIDED.
  9. Apr 20 2020
    Motion of Minnesota, et al. for leave to participate in oral argument as amici curiae and for divided argument DENIED. VIDED.
  10. Apr 13 2020
    Argument to be rescheduled for the October Term 2020. VIDED.
  11. Apr 06 2020
    Motion of Minnesota, et al. for leave to participate in oral argument as amici curiae and for divided argument filed. VIDED.
  12. Apr 06 2020
    Brief amici curiae of Professors of Jurisdiction filed. VIDED. (Distributed)
  13. Apr 06 2020
    Brief amici curiae of Civil Procedure Professors Pamela K. Bookman, et al. filed. VIDED. (Distributed)
  14. Apr 06 2020
    Brief amicus curiae of Foundation for Moral Law filed. VIDED. (Distributed)
  15. Apr 06 2020
    Brief amicus curiae of National Association of Home Builders filed. VIDED. (Distributed)
  16. Apr 06 2020
    Brief amicus curiae of Main Street Alliance filed. VIDED. (Distributed)
  17. Apr 06 2020
    Brief amici curiae of American Association for Justice and Public Justice, P.C. filed. VIDED. (Distributed)
  18. Apr 06 2020
    Brief amici curiae of Minnesota, Texas, 37 Other States and The District of Columbia filed. VIDED. (Distributed)
  19. Apr 03 2020
    ORAL ARGUMENT POSTPONED. VIDED.
  20. Apr 03 2020
    Brief amici curiae of Civil Procedure and Federal Courts Professors filed. VIDED. (Distributed)
  21. Apr 03 2020
    Brief amicus curiae of The Center for Auto Safety filed. VIDED. (Distributed)
  22. Apr 02 2020
    Brief amicus curiae of Professor Jonathan R. Nash filed. VIDED. (Distributed)
  23. Apr 02 2020
    Brief amicus curiae of Civil Procedure Professors filed. VIDED. (Distributed)
  24. Mar 30 2020
    Motion of the Solicitor General for leave to participate in oral argument as amicus curiae and for divided argument filed. VIDED.
  25. Mar 30 2020
    Brief of respondents Charles Lucero, personal representative of the Estate of Markkaya Jean Gullett, et al. filed. VIDED. (Distributed)
  26. Mar 19 2020
    CIRCULATED
  27. Mar 06 2020
    Brief amicus curiae of Washington Legal Foundation filed. VIDED.
  28. Mar 06 2020
    Brief amicus curiae of United States filed. VIDED.
  29. Mar 06 2020
    Brief amici curiae of The Alliance for Automobile Innovation, et al. filed. VIDED.
  30. Mar 06 2020
    Brief amici curiae of The Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America, et al. filed. VIDED.
  31. Mar 06 2020
    Brief amici curiae of Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) filed. VIDED.
  32. Mar 06 2020
    Brief amicus curiae of Institute of International Bankers filed. VIDED.
  33. Mar 06 2020
    Brief amicus curiae of DRI - The Voice Of The Defense Bar filed. VIDED.
  34. Mar 05 2020
    Brief amicus curiae of Product Liability Advisory Council, Inc. filed. VIDED.
  35. Mar 04 2020
    The record of the Supreme Court of Montana is available on its' website (www.supremecourtdocket.mt.gov).
  36. Feb 28 2020
    Joint appendix filed (statement of costs filed). VIDED.
  37. Feb 28 2020
    Brief of petitioner Ford Motor Company filed. VIDED.
  38. Feb 26 2020
    Record requested from the Supreme Court of Montana.
  39. Feb 21 2020
    SET FOR ARGUMENT on Monday, April 27, 2020. VIDED.
  40. Jan 27 2020
    Blanket Consent filed by Petitioner, Ford Motor Company.VIDED.
  41. Jan 17 2020
    Petition GRANTED. The petition for a writ of certiorari in No. 19-369 is granted. The cases are consolidated, and a total of one hour is allotted for oral argument. VIDED.
  42. Jan 17 2020
    Because the Court has consolidated these cases for briefing and oral argument, future filings and activity in the cases will now be reflected on the docket of No. 19-368. Subsequent filings in these cases must therefore be submitted through the electronic filing system in No. 19-368. Each document submitted in connection with one or more of these cases must include on its cover the case number and caption for each case in which the filing is intended to be submitted. Where a filing is submitted in fewer than all of the cases, the docket entry will reflect the case number(s) in which the filing is submitted; a document filed in all of the consolidated cases will be noted as “VIDED.”
  43. Jan 13 2020
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 1/17/2020.
  44. Dec 04 2019
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 1/10/2020.
  45. Dec 04 2019
    Reply of petitioner Ford Motor Company filed.
  46. Nov 20 2019
    Brief of respondent Charles Lucero, personal representative of the Estate of Markkaya Jean Gullett in opposition filed.
  47. Oct 21 2019
    Brief amici curiae of The Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America, et al. filed.
  48. Oct 21 2019
    Brief amicus curiae of The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers filed. VIDED.
  49. Oct 04 2019
    Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including November 20, 2019.
  50. Oct 01 2019
    Motion to extend the time to file a response from October 21, 2019 to November 20, 2019, submitted to The Clerk.
  51. Sep 26 2019
    Blanket Consent filed by Petitioner, Ford Motor Company.
  52. Sep 18 2019
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due October 21, 2019)
  53. Jul 25 2019
    Application (19A103) granted by Justice Kagan extending the time to file until September 18, 2019.
  54. Jul 24 2019
    Application (19A103) to extend the time to file a petition for a writ of certiorari from August 19, 2019 to September 18, 2019, submitted to Justice Kagan.
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