Supreme Court Grants Certiorari in DaimlerChrysler
In April 2013, the Supreme Court granted certiorari in Bauman v DaimlerChrysler AG. IRAdvocates brought this case involving ATS and common law claims against DaimlerChrysler AG on behalf of individuals forcibly disappeared and presumed murdered, forcibly exiled, or kidnapped and tortured because of their efforts to organize labor at the Mercedes Benz Argentina plant during the Argentinian "Dirty War." The Supreme Court will consider whether the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals was correct in finding California could exercise personal jurisdiction over DaimlerChrysler, a German corporation, because it operates a subsidiary in California which sells billions of dollars’ worth of its vehicles.
DaimlerChrysler argued in its Certiorari Petition that it violates due process for a court to exercise general personal jurisdiction over a foreign corporation based solely on the fact that an indirect corporate subsidiary performs services on behalf of the defendant in the forum state. The Ninth Circuit agreed with Plaintiffs, however, that California had general jurisdiction over both subsidiary and parent where both shared the same chairman; the subsidiary sold cars solely for the parent company; the parent company set prices for the cars and had authority over virtually all aspects of the subsidiary’s operations; and all profits went to the parent. The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in this case during the October 2013 – June 2014 term.