The Pennsylvania Superior Court en banc on Thursday examined whether Pennsylvania jurisdiction should extend to all entities that register to do business in the state, an argument that has been closely watched because it could impact litigation ranging from a lawsuit over the fatal 2017 Grenfell Tower blaze in London and cases over liability for talc products.

Chicago attorney David Duffy of Thompson Coburn argued that consent to jurisdiction under the registration statute is a legal “fiction” that would allow any state to create jurisdiction simply by adding “magic words” to standard documents.