Supreme Court of the United States · Official docket →
Robert Mallory v. Norfolk Southern Railway Co.
Paid petition · Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, Eastern District, No. 3 EAP 2021 · judgment December 22, 2021
Before the decision, well below the 4.1% base rate, with no standout signals pointing toward a grant.
Question presented
''Nearly 80 years removed from International Shoe, it seems corporations continue to receive special jurisdictional protections in the name of the Constitution. Less clear is why." Ford Motor Co. v. Montana Eighth Jud. Dist. Ct., 141 S. Ct. 1017, 1038 (2021) (Gorsuch J., concurring). This petition seeks resolution of an issue that has divided courts around the country. More than a dozen state supreme courts and every federal court of appeals have weighed in on the question with conflicting results. An unbroken line of this Court's cases holds that a court may exercise personal jurisdiction with a party's consent. Corporations enforce that precedent to the letter in their contracts of adhesion, requiring flesh and blood consumers to litigate disputes with businesses in often-distant tribunals. E.g., Carnival Cruise Lines, Inc. v. Shute, 499 U.S. 585 (1991). Turnabout should be fair play (and is, incidentally, consistent with substantial justice). Consistent with that rule, states have enacted laws requiring corporations operating within their boundaries to consent to personal jurisdiction when they register to do business in those states. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court found such a statute unconstitutional under this Court's decision in International Shoe v. Washington, 326 U.S. 310 (1945), and its progeny. That erroneous result is but the latest decision among dozens that are squarely divided on the question presented: Whether the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment prohibits a state from requiring a corporation to consent to personal jurisdiction to do business in the state
Counsel of record
For petitioner
Ashley Conrad Keller
Keller Postman LLC
For respondent
Carter G. Phillips
Sidley Austin LLP
Case
Conference history
Distributed for 2 conferences
Amicus briefs
21 merits
(10 supporting pet./neither, 11 respondent)
Argument & decision
Argued November 8, 2022 — Ashley C. Keller · Carter G. Phillips. Audio and transcript
Decided June 27, 2023. Opinion by Gorsuch.
Proceedings
- Jul 31 2023Judgment and mandate issued.
- Jun 28 2023Record returned to the First Judicial District of Pennsylvania Trial Division - Civil Office of judicial records. 1 - Box.
- Jun 27 2023Judgment VACATED and case REMANDED. Gorsuch, J., announced the judgment of the Court, delivered the opinion of the Court with respect to Parts I and III–B, in which Thomas, Alito, Sotomayor, and Jackson, JJ., joined, and an opinion with respect to Parts II, III–A, and IV, in which Thomas, Sotomayor, and Jackson, JJ., joined. Jackson, J., filed a concurring opinion. Alito J., filed an opinion concurring in part and concurring in the judgment. Barrett, J., filed a dissenting opinion, in which Roberts, C. J., and Kagan and Kavanaugh, JJ., joined.
- Nov 08 2022Argued. For petitioner: Ashley C. Keller, Chicago, Ill. For respondent: Carter G. Phillips, Washington, D. C.; and Curtis E. Gannon, Deputy Solicitor General, Department of Justice, Washington, D. C. (for United States, as amicus curiae.)
- Oct 03 2022Motion of the Solicitor General for leave to participate in oral argument as amicus curiae, for divided argument, and for enlargement of time for oral argument GRANTED.
- Sep 23 2022Reply of petitioner Robert Mallory filed. (Distributed)
- Sep 12 2022Record requested from the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania Eastern District.
- Sep 02 2022Brief amicus curiae of United States filed. (Distributed)
- Sep 02 2022Brief amici curiae of National Association of Manufacturers and Product Liability Advisory Council, Inc filed. (Distributed)
- Sep 02 2022Brief amicus curiae of Professor Tanya Monestier filed. (Distributed)
- Sep 02 2022Brief amici curiae of Chamber of Commerce of the United States; American Tort Reform Association; Coalition for Litigation Justice; American Trucking Associations filed. (Distributed)
- Sep 02 2022Brief amicus curiae of Association of American Railroads filed. (Distributed)
- Sep 02 2022Brief amicus curiae of Professor Lea Brilmayer filed.
- Sep 02 2022Brief amicus curiae of Washington Legal Foundation filed. (Distributed)
- Sep 02 2022Brief amici curiae of Virginia, et al. filed. (Distributed)
- Sep 02 2022Motion of the Solicitor General for leave to participate in oral argument as amicus curiae, for divided argument, and for enlargement of time for oral argument filed.
- Sep 01 2022Brief amici curiae of Pennsylvania Coalition for Civil Justice Reform and the Pennsylvania Manufactures’ Association filed. (Distributed)
- Sep 01 2022Brief amici curiae of DRI Center for Law and Public Policy and the International Association of Defense Counsel filed. (Distributed)
- Aug 29 2022Brief amicus curiae of Atlantic Legal Foundation filed. (Distributed)
- Aug 26 2022Brief of respondent Norfolk Southern Railway Co. filed. (Distributed)
- Aug 03 2022ARGUMENT RESCHEDULED for Tuesday, November 8, 2022.
- Jul 21 2022CIRCULATED
- Jul 12 2022Brief amici curiae of U.S. Terror Victims in support of neither party filed.
- Jul 12 2022Amicus brief of Public Citizen not accepted for filing. (July 15, 2022 - Corrected PDF to be submitted.)
- Jul 12 2022Brief amicus curiae of Public Citizen filed.
- Jul 12 2022Brief amici curiae of The Center for Auto Safety and The Attorneys Information Exchange Group filed.
- Jul 12 2022Brief amici curiae of Scholars on Corporate Registration and Jurisdiction in support of neither party filed.
- Jul 12 2022Brief amicus curiae of American Association for Justice filed.
- Jul 12 2022Brief amici curiae of Civil Procedure Professors in support of neither party filed.
- Jul 12 2022Brief amicus curiae of Stephen E. Sachs in support of neither party filed.
- Jul 12 2022Brief amicus curiae of United Policyholders, Inc. in support of neither party filed.
- Jul 11 2022Brief amicus curiae of Academy of Rail Labor Attorneys filed.
- Jul 08 2022Brief amicus curiae of Pennsylvania Association for Justice filed.
- Jul 05 2022Brief and separate Statutory Appendix of petitioner Robert Mallory filed.
- Jul 05 2022Joint appendix filed. (Statement of costs filed)
- Jul 01 2022Record received from the First Judicial District of Pennsylvania Trial Division - Civil Office of judicial records. 1 - Box.
- Jun 22 2022Record requested from the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania Eastern District.
- Jun 14 2022ARGUMENT SET FOR Tuesday, October, 11, 2022.
- May 24 2022Motion to extend the time to file the briefs on the merits granted. The time to file the joint appendix and petitioner's brief on the merits is extended to and including July 5, 2022. The time to file respondent's brief on the merits is extended to and including August 26, 2022.
- May 05 2022Motion for an extension of time to file the briefs on the merits filed.
- Apr 28 2022Blanket Consent filed by Respondent, Norfolk Southern Railway Co.
- Apr 28 2022Blanket Consent filed by Petitioner, Robert Mallory
- Apr 25 2022Petition GRANTED.
- Apr 18 2022DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 4/22/2022.
- Mar 23 2022DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 4/14/2022.
- Mar 22 2022Reply of petitioner Robert Mallory filed. (Distributed)
- Mar 08 2022Brief of respondent Norfolk Southern Railway Co. in opposition filed.
- Feb 18 2022Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due March 25, 2022)