Think back (fondly) to your civil procedure course. In order for a dispute to be litigated in a court, the court must have jurisdiction over the parties. There are two types of jurisdiction, subject matter and personal. Regarding the latter, a court can have personal jurisdiction over a defendant two ways. One, specific jurisdiction, has to do with the relationship between the conduct or occurrence from which the suit arises and the forum.  he other, the one this writing is concerned with, is general personal jurisdiction.

General personal jurisdiction allows a plaintiff to bring suit against a defendant in a jurisdiction unrelated to the conduct or occurrence from which the suit arises. In an injury suit, it means suing a defendant in a place that has nothing whatsoever to do with the alleged tortious conduct. For mass tort and products liability cases this has historically permitted forum shopping by plaintiffs who seek out the courts they feel most favorable to their claims.