​Rebecca Young (Partner-Birmingham, AL) and Daniel Schwarz (Of Counsel-West Palm Beach, FL) obtained dismissal of all claims made against a manufacturer and supplier of window system components in a tragic matter involving the death of a child.

The child was staying at an Alabama hotel when he became entangled in the looped cord of the hotel room's window covering system. During a pre-litigation inspection of the subject window system, component parts manufactured by Wilson Elser’s client were identified. Based on this finding, the plaintiff asserted various product liability claims against the client claiming that its acts and omissions caused the child’s fatality.

In response to the complaint, Rebecca and Daniel moved to dismiss all claims based on lack of personal jurisdiction. Rebecca and Daniel supported the motion with affidavit testimony from the client's president establishing that the company, which was based in Canada, had no offices, employees, or distributors in Alabama; did not solicit business there; had not transacted business with any of the co-defendants; and had not done business directly with any Alabama customers. The client's president averred that the client had sold the part identified in the inspection both within Canada and in 23 states, but that Alabama was not among them.

Based on these facts, Rebecca and Daniel argued that the case was distinguishable from recent U.S. Supreme Court and Alabama Supreme Court personal jurisdiction decisions in the product liability context, where those courts found personal jurisdiction was proper against defendants who had actively marketed and advertised products at issue in the forum state despite not having any claim-specific contact with the forum state.

In light of the persuasive legal arguments presented by Rebecca and Daniel’s briefing, the plaintiff was forced to dismiss all claims against Wilson Elser's client. This early victory saved the client from incurring expensive legal fees and costs and allowed it to avoid the stress and time spent to defend against a high exposure wrongful death case.