The Supreme Court's recent decision in Ford is sure to be framed by some as expanding—perhaps quite significantly—the availability of specific personal jurisdiction under the Due Process Clause. But the decision should not be read as having sweeping consequences or any truly expansive impact on jurisdiction. The Court simply applied its precedents to resolve a relatively straightforward personal jurisdiction question in a set of relatively straightforward product liability suits. Nonetheless, the Court's discussion of when a corporation's in-state contacts are "related enough" to the lawsuit to support specific jurisdiction is likely to be the focus of follow-on litigation for which defendants should be prepared.

This White Paper analyzes Ford, discusses implications of the decision in the product liability and other contexts, and identifies limiting principles to personal jurisdiction after Ford.