Goodyear Dunlop Tires Operations, S. A., et al. v. Brown

Respondents, North Carolina residents whose sons died in a bus accident outside Paris, France, filed a suit for wrongful death damages in North Carolina state court alleging that the accident was caused by tire failure. At issue was whether foreign subsidiaries of a United States parent corporation were amenable to suit in state court on claims unrelated to any activity of the subsidiaries in the forum state. The Court held that, because the episode-in-suit, the bus accident, occurred in France, and the tire alleged to have caused the accident was manufactured and sold abroad, North Carolina courts lacked specific jurisdiction to adjudicate the controversy. The Court also held that a connection so limited between the forum and the foreign corporation was an inadequate basis for the exercise of general jurisdiction where such a connection did not establish the "continuous and systematic" affiliation necessary to empower North Carolina courts to entertain claims unrelated to the foreign corporation's contacts with the State. Therefore, the Court held that petitioners were not amendable to suit in North Carolina and the judgment of the North Carolina Court of Appeals was reversed.