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James Ethridge v. Samsung SDI Company, Limited

Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, No. 23-40094 · judgment December 15, 2025


Certiorari denied · June 29, 2026
Pre-decision estimate: 5% cert probability (95% interval 4%–8%)

Before the decision, modestly above the 4.1% base rate. The model weighted this up for counsel who has won certiorari before, a Fifth Circuit decision below, and a petition filed soon after the judgment below, and down for a business respondent.

Question presented

When a company directly and regularly sells a product into a state, and that product causes injury in the state to one of the state’s residents, does the Fourteenth Amendment’s Due Process Clause forbid the state from exercising personal jurisdiction over the company solely because the company took steps to limit sales only to some purchasers, for some uses, within the state?

Counsel of record

For petitioner
Jonathan Ellis Taylor
Gupta Wessler LLP

For respondent
Roy T. Englert Jr.
Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer (US) LLP

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 2 conferences

Amicus briefs
1 cert-stage

Proceedings

  1. Jun 29 2026
    Petition DENIED.
  2. Jun 09 2026
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 6/25/2026.
  3. May 05 2026
    Rescheduled.
  4. Apr 22 2026
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 5/14/2026.
  5. Apr 22 2026
    Brief amicus curiae of American Association for Justice filed. (Distributed)
  6. Apr 21 2026
    Reply of petitioner James Ethridge filed. (Distributed)
  7. Apr 03 2026
    Brief of respondent Samsung SDI Co., Ltd. in support filed.
  8. Mar 16 2026
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due April 22, 2026)