Products Liability Law Reporter

The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals held that a Georgia district court lacked personal jurisdiction over lawsuits alleging liability for injuries allegedly resulting from exploding LG lithium-ion batteries.

Here, individual residents of Arizona, Missouri, Ohio, and Pennsylvania purchased LG Chem lithium-ion 18650 batteries from electronic cigarette retailers in those states. They allegedly suffered injuries when the batteries exploded, prompting them to bring products liability claims against LG Chem, a Korean company, in the Northern District of Georgia. LG Chem moved to dismiss the plaintiffs’ claims on the basis of lack of personal jurisdiction. The district court dismissed the claims, finding a lack of personal jurisdiction under Georgia’s long-arm statute, Ga. Code Ann. §9-10-91.

Affirming, the Eleventh Circuit noted that service of process establishes personal jurisdiction over a party if the party is subject to the long-arm statute of the state in which the court sits or if service of process is authorized by federal law. The court added that a court’s exercise of personal jurisdiction must comport with due process and that a fundamental question, under relevant case law, is whether the party has sufficient contacts with the forum such that maintenance of the lawsuit does not offend traditional notions of fair play and substantial justice. The court agreed with the district court that the defendant’s lack of contacts with the state of Georgia meant that the court lacked personal jurisdiction. The fact that the defendant was served under the Hague Convention does not change its conclusion, the court said, adding that the Hague Convention does not give a district court personal jurisdiction over a party notwithstanding its lack of contacts with the forum state.

Citation: Durham v. LG Chem, Ltd., 2022 WL 274498 (11th Cir. Jan. 31, 2022).