Estate of Fox V Johnson ED104580 (Mo. App. 2017)
Estate of Fox V Johnson ED104580 (Mo. App. 2017)
17, 2017)
Lisa Van Amburg, Judge three other plaintiffs, including Jacqueline Fox,
bought and used Defendants' products in other states
Appeal from the Circuit Court of the City of St. Louis and later developed ovarian cancer; these non-resi-
Honorable Rex M. Burlison dent plaintiffs joined their claims to the Missouri res-
ident plaintiffs' claims in this action pursuant to Mis-
OPINION souri Rule 52.05.
Johnson & Johnson appeals the trial court's judgment 1. St. Louis City is both a city and its own county,
after a jury verdict in favor of the estate of Jacqueline comprising the 22 judicial circuit in which this ac-
tion was filed. St. Louis County is a separate,
Fox in this product liability suit. We reverse and va-
neighboring county comprising the 21 judicial
cate the judgment for lack of personal jurisdiction.
circuit.
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Estate of Fox v. Johnson, No. ED104580 (Mo. Ct. App. Oct. 17, 2017)
tried as a single-plaintiff trial. Fox died four months Subsequently, however, while this appeal was pend-
before trial, *3 and her estate proceeded on her behalf. ing, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its decision in
Given our disposition here, we need not recite the ev- Bristol-Meyers Squibb (BMS), holding that a non-resi-
idence adduced at trial but simply note that the jury dent plaintiff must establish an independent basis for
found J&J liable and awarded $10 million in compen- specific personal jurisdiction over the defendant in the
satory damages and $62 million in punitive damages. state. In BMS, a group of over 600 plaintiffs, mostly
The jury found Imerys not liable. non-residents, sued BMS in California for injuries al-
legedly caused by the drug Plavix. The California
J&J appeals and asserts twelve points of error, but courts had rejected BMS's challenge to personal juris-
the first is dispositive. Specifically, J&J contends that diction on the non-residents' claims, reasoning, sim-
the trial court erred in exercising personal jurisdiction ilar to the trial court here, that BMS's extensive con-
over J&J because Fox's claims did not arise out of J&J's tacts in the state supported jurisdiction, particularly
activities in Missouri. In light of the United States insofar as non-residents' claims were similar to resi-
Supreme Court's recent holding in Bristol-Myers Squibb dents' claims. The U.S. Supreme Court reversed, hold-
Co. v. Superior Court of California, 137 S.Ct. 1773 ing that specific personal jurisdiction requires a con-
(2017), J&J's point must be granted on the present nection between the forum state and the specific
record. claims at issue. "When there is no such connection,
specific jurisdiction is lacking regardless of the extent
Analysis of a defendant's unconnected activities in the state."
137 S.Ct. at 1781. The fact that resident plaintiffs sus-
Missouri Rule 52.05 allows non-residents to join as tained similar injuries does not support specific juris-
plaintiffs in an action by resident plaintiffs when all diction as to non-resident claims. Id.
plaintiffs' claims arise out of the same transactions
or occurrences. Missouri courts historically have ex- The parties agree that BMS is controlling here, but
ercised personal jurisdiction over defendants as to they disagree on the resulting outcome. Fox requests
joined non-residents' claims so long as jurisdiction ex- that we remand the case to the trial court for further
ists as to the residents' claims. Consistent with this development of the factual record supporting juris-
practice, the trial court determined that specific per- diction under the narrower standard of BMS hereto-
sonal jurisdiction existed, reasoning that J&J's alleged fore not required in Missouri. Specifically, Fox seeks
conduct satisfied Missouri's long-arm statute to establish that J&J directed the production, packag-
(§506.500) and minimum contacts. In response to that ing, and distribution of its products through a Mis-
3
ruling, J&J petitioned this court for a writ to prohibit souri company, Pharma Tech. J&J counters that Fox
the trial court's exercise of jurisdiction, and this court is precluded from supplementing the record at this
2
denied that petition without opinion. *4 stage and urges this court to dismiss the case outright
with prejudice. *5
2. The denial of a writ without opinion does not
constitute the law of the case. Rodriguez v. Suzuki 3. Respondents do not seek to add Pharma Tech
Motor Corp., 996 S.W.2d 47 (Mo. 1999). Even if it as a party defendant but only to adduce additional
did, the doctrine doesn't apply when a change in evidence relevant to the issue of personal jurisdic-
the law intervenes. State ex rel. Alma Telephone Co. tion over J&J.
v. Public Service Commission, 40 S.W.3d 381 (Mo.
W.D. 2001). Although the parties neglected to brief the issue of
4
retroactivity, we note that several district courts have
examined whether to permit reconsideration of juris-
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Estate of Fox v. Johnson, No. ED104580 (Mo. Ct. App. Oct. 17, 2017)
diction after the U.S. Supreme Court issued its deci- To be sure, this court generally possesses the authority
sion in Daimler AG v. Bauman, 134 S.Ct. 746 (2014). to remand cases to the trial court for further evidence
8
In cases where reconsideration was barred, courts rea- and analysis, including on jurisdictional questions or
9
soned that Daimler was not new law but merely a clar- due to *6 changes in the law pending appeal. But Fox
5
ification of Goodyear, or that defendants waived the provides no Missouri precedent illuminating a proce-
challenge to jurisdiction through their conduct in lit- dural path for this court to stay a jury verdict pend-
6
igation. In cases where reconsideration was allowed, ing re-litigation of facts supporting jurisdiction. Sim-
courts reasoned that a party cannot be deemed to have ply put, this court declines to remand the case in its
waived challenges that were not yet available, and no advanced posture.
7
prejudice would result from reconsideration. Howev-
8. See e.g., McDonald v. Thompson, 35 S.W.3d 906
er, all cases involved defendants' motions to dismiss
(Mo. App. S.D. 2001), and In re Marriage of Cham-
and not plaintiffs' initial burden of proof. Even accept-
berlain, 63 S.W.3d 326 (Mo. App. S.D. 2002).
ing that BMS represents a change relative to previ-
9. See e.g., Roth v. Roth, 571 S.W.2d 659 (Mo.
ous joinder practices in Missouri, we find no authori- App. E.D. 1978), and Dietz v. Humphreys, 507
ty supporting Fox's request to rewind the case so as to S.W.2d 389 (Mo. 1974). --------
supplement the pre-trial record to establish jurisdic-
tion under the new standard. Conclusion
4. "If, subsequent to the judgment and before de-
The trial court's judgment is reversed and vacated.
cision of the appellate court, a law intervenes and
positively changes the rule which governs, the law
/s/_________
must be obeyed." Geran v. Xerox Education Services,
Inc., 469 S.W.3d 459, 465 (Mo. App. W.D. 2015).
There are two exceptions to this rule. The first is
Lisa Van Amburg, Judge Angela T. Quigless, P.J., con-
when the change is procedural rather than sub-
stantive. Id. The second "turns on the issue of fun-
cur
damental fairness and is often expressed as a ques- and Kurt S. Odenwald, J., concurs in separate opinion.
tion of reliance." Id. If a party has relied on the law *7 Hon. Rex M. Burlison
as it existed prior to the change, courts may apply
the law only prospectively in order to avoid injus- I concur. The majority correctly notes that the United
tice and unfairness. Id. States Supreme Court's recent holding in Bristol-My-
5. Goodyear Dunlop Tires Operations, S.A. v. Brown, ers Squibb Co. v. Superior Court of California, 137 S.
131 S.Ct. 2846 (2011). Ct. 1773 (2017) is controlling and mandates reversal
6. See e.g., Gilmore v. Palestinian Interim Self-Govt. of the trial court's judgment. I write separately to em-
Auth., 843 F.3d 958 (D.C. Cir. 2016); Am. Fid. As- phasize that the opinion in Bristol-Myers Squibb is
sur. Co. v. Bank of New York Mellon, 810 F.3d 1234 firmly grounded in the United States Supreme Court
(10 Cir. 2016).
opinion in Daimler AG v. Bauman, 134 S. Ct. 746
7. See e.g., Gucci America, Inc. v. Weixing Li, 768
(2014). In Daimler, the Supreme Court thoughtfully
F.3d 122 (2 Cir. 2014); Strauss v. Credit Lyonnais,
expounded upon the principles of personal jurisdic-
S.A., 175 F.Supp.3d 3 (E.D.N.Y. 2016); Estate of
Klieman v. Palestinian Authority, 82 F.Supp. 3d 237,
tion, making it clear that personal jurisdiction over a
239 (D.D.C. 2015); Laydon v. Mizuho Bank, Ltd. foreign corporation to hear any and all claims against
2015 WL 1499185 (S.D.N.Y. 2015). it exists only when the corporation's affiliations with
the state in which the suit is brought are constant and
pervasive (general jurisdiction) or when the corpora-
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Estate of Fox v. Johnson, No. ED104580 (Mo. Ct. App. Oct. 17, 2017)
tion's in-state activities are continuous and systematic, the very plain and clear substantive law as explained
but also give rise to the liabilities sued on (specific juris- by the United States Supreme Court beginning with
diction). Daimler, 134 S. Ct. at 761 (quoting Int'l Shoe International *9 Shoe and most recently re-affirmed in
Co. v. Washington, 326 U.S. 310, 317 (1945)). Impor- Daimler and Bristol-Myers Squibb. We not only de-
tantly, in both Daimler and Bristol-Myers Squibb, the cline the procedural request for remand made by Fox,
Supreme Court did not establish new rules regarding but are without authority to do so.
personal *8 jurisdiction, but relied upon the traditional
/s/_________
notions of personal jurisdiction explained in Interna-
tional Shoe.
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