On June 7, the New York Legislature passed a bill that would require every corporation registered to do business in New York to consent to be sued in New York courts. See N.Y. Senate-Assembly Bill S7476 (2023). If Gov. Kathy Hochul signs the bill, New York state and federal courts would be able to hear lawsuits against out-of-state corporations based on conduct that took place outside of New York simply because the corporation does unrelated business here. The practical effects of this bill on corporations registered to do business in New York—big and small—as well as on the New York courts which already have substantial dockets could be significant.

Prior to S7476, New York courts held that the text of New York’s preexisting general jurisdiction statute did not require consent to general jurisdiction in New York State. See, e.g., Aybar v. Aybar, 37 N.Y.3d 274, 283 (2021); Chufen Chen v. Dunkin’ Brands, 954 F.3d 492 (2d Cir. 2020). Previously, courts even suggested that if New York law required general-jurisdiction-by-registration (as S7476 would do), that requirement would be unconstitutional. In Chufen Chen, for instance, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit noted that while “nothing in the statutory text of [New York’s general jurisdiction statute] expressly conditions registration on consent to general jurisdiction” there would be serious constitutional concerns in “exercising general jurisdiction over a corporation in a state in which the corporation had done no business at all.” 954 F.3d at 499; see also Aybar v. Aybar, 169 A.D.3d 137, 152 (2d Dep’t 2019), aff’d, 37 N.Y.3d at 274.