Case studies

Question 1

Calder v. Jones (1984)

Answer 1

CASE: entertainer from CALI started a lawsuit in CALI, claiming she had been libeled in an article written in FLORIDA. The authors (from florida) were served in Florida, and claimed cali lacked personal jurisdiction to try them.

DECISION: California DOES hold jurisdiction, because effects of action are felt in cali

Question 2

Zippo Manufacturing v. Zippo Dot Com (1997)

Answer 2

ZM = company in Pennsylvania that made/sold lighters
ZDC = company in Cali that re-sold ZM lighters

ZM sued ZDC, but these argued that Penn court did not have personal jurisdiction bc they were Cali based.

SLIDING SCALE TEST was applied
DECISION: ZDC was considered a highly interactive and commercial website w/significant number of Penn users, therefore court DOES have jurisdiction over ZDC even in Penn.

Question 3

Yahoo v. LICRA