Goodyear Dunlop Tires Operations, S.A. v. Brown
United States Supreme Court
564 U.S. 915 (2011)
Two North Carolina teenagers died in a bus accident in France allegedly caused by a defective tire manufactured at a Goodyear subsidiary's Turkey plant; their parents (plaintiffs) sued Goodyear USA (which consented to North Carolina jurisdiction) and its foreign subsidiaries operating exclusively in Turkey, France, and Luxembourg (defendants) in North Carolina state court. The subsidiaries, whose only connection to North Carolina was some tires reaching the state through the stream of commerce via intermediaries, moved to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction; the trial court and North Carolina Court of Appeals both allowed the suit to proceed based on general jurisdiction.
Whether a state court may exercise general jurisdiction over a foreign subsidiary of a U.S.-based corporation that does not engage in continuous and systematic activities within the forum state.