No. 18-40605
4
decision in Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. v. Superior Court of California, 137 S. Ct.
1773 (2017).
4
On the same day that Jackson filed its response opposing class
certification, Jackson also moved for summary judgment. The district court
subsequently held a class certification hearing in March 2018.
After the hearing, but before any certification ruling, all but one of the
original plaintiffs moved to voluntarily dismiss their claims, stating they would
seek relief in state court. While that motion was pending, plaintiffs moved to
amend their complaint to add an additional plaintiff, John Denman, as a
potential class representative, to join David Cruson (the one original plaintiff
not moving to dismiss his claims). While all initial plaintiffs had been clients
of Tim Hightower, Denman had bought annuities through a different broker.
4
Bristol-Myers held that, in a mass tort action, a California court could not exercise
specific jurisdiction over a non-California corporation with respect to claims by nonresidents
based on conduct and injuries outside California. See 137 S. Ct. at 1781–82. The decision left
open how it would apply to federal courts or class actions. See id. at 1784 (leaving “open the
question whether the Fifth Amendment imposes the same restrictions on the exercise of
personal jurisdiction by a federal court”); id. at 1789 n.4 (Sotomayor, J., dissenting) (noting
decision does not address whether it “would also apply to a class action in which a plaintiff
injured in the forum State seeks to represent a nationwide class of plaintiffs, not all of whom
were injured there”). One commentator has predicted that, while “[n]ationwide class actions
filed against large national corporations in states that are not their homes have not raised
significant personal jurisdiction challenges,” “[t]his is likely to change in wake of Bristol-
Myers Squibb.” 2 W
ILLIAM B. RUBENSTEIN, NEWBERG ON CLASS ACTIONS § 6:26 (5th ed. 2012)
[hereinafter N
EWBERG]. To date, courts have split on how Bristol-Myers applies to class
actions brought in federal court. Compare DeBernardis v. NBTY, Inc., No. 17 C 6125, 2018
WL 461228, at *2 (N.D. Ill. Jan. 18, 2018) (concluding it “more likely than not” that “courts
will apply [Bristol-Myers] to outlaw nationwide class actions . . . where there is no general
jurisdiction over the Defendants”), and Molock v. Whole Foods Mkt. Grp., Inc., No. 18-7162,
2020 WL 1146733, at *9–12 (D.C. Cir. Mar. 10, 2020) (Silberman, J., dissenting) (concluding
Bristol-Myers applies to class actions in federal court), with Casso’s Wellness Store & Gym,
L.L.C. v. Spectrum Lab. Prods., Inc., No. 17-2161, 2018 WL 1377608, at *5 (E.D. La. Mar. 19,
2018) (agreeing with courts that “have declined to extend the holding in Bristol-Myers to class
actions” given “the material differences between mass tort actions and class actions”), and
Mussat v. IQVIA, Inc., No. 19-1204, 2020 WL 1161166, at *2–4 (7th Cir. Mar. 11, 2020)
(Bristol-Myers does not apply to class actions because only named class representatives, not
unnamed class members, must demonstrate personal jurisdiction). See also, e.g., 2 N
EWBERG
§ 6:26 (noting “district court[ ] decisions have advanced divergent interpretations of Bristol-
Myers Squibb’s effect on class action practice”) (and collecting cases).