New York courts historically have striven to safeguard the due process rights of non-domiciliary corporations by conforming to the constitutional limits on general jurisdiction imposed by the U.S. Supreme Court.1 To exercise general jurisdiction over non-domiciliary corporations, in the past New York courts required a showing that a corporation conducted business in New York that was “continuous and systematic.”2 This doing business test focused on the “quality and nature” of a corporation’s New York contacts, which were analyzed to see if they were sufficient while not offending “traditional notions of fair play and substantial justice.”3
The recent U.S. Supreme Court decision in Daimler v. Bauman4 has significantly altered this approach, and New York courts have taken up the challenge of ensuring that non-domiciliary corporations’ due process rights are protected. Recent Commercial Division decisions make clear that the new standard has reduced the reach of New York courts’ general jurisdiction over non-domiciliary corporations by providing only a “limited set of affiliations” that can now confer general jurisdiction.5 While this narrowing largely limits general jurisdiction to the state in which a non-domiciliary corporation is incorporated or has its principal place of business, as discussed below, openings exist for asserting general jurisdiction in New York even where those two criteria are not satisfied.
The Daimler Approach
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