Almost 100 years ago, Benjamin Cardozo, then a judge on the New York Court of Appeals, rendered a decision in Tauza v. Susquehanna Coal.1 That decision withstood the test of time, and has been a centerpiece on the subject of general jurisdiction for New York courts since 1917. On Jan. 14, 2014, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, joined by seven other justices, essentially rendered that decision and its progeny moot by their ruling in Daimler AG v. Bauman.2 In toppling Tauza, the Supreme Court drastically narrowed the opportunities for asserting jurisdiction in New York, particularly over large multinational and multistate corporations and other entities.
‘Tauza’
The central question in Tauza was whether New York could assert jurisdiction over the defendant, Susquehanna Coal, a Pennsylvania company whose principal place of business was in Philadelphia. Plaintiff, a New York resident, sued Susquehanna Coal on a cause of action that was not related to any of the company’s business activities in New York. Since the action was filed long prior to New York’s adoption of its long-arm statute as part of the Civil Practice Law and Rules in 1963, the only basis for jurisdiction over Susquehanna Coal was due to the company’s alleged presence in New York under principles of general jurisdiction.
