Opinion ID: 2973876
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Asahi

Text: The Supreme Court in Asahi Metal Indus. Co. v. Superior Court of Calif., 480 U.S. 102 (1987) analyzed the purposeful availment test in detail. Asahi was a Japanese company that manufactured tire valves, which it sold to a Taiwanese manufacturer of tire tubes. Plaintiff was injured when the tire of his motorcycle equipped with an Asahi valve burst. He sued Asahi in California. The Court ruled that the district court lacked personal jurisdiction over Asahi, although no opinion commanded the support of a majority of the Court. Justice O’Connor’s plurality opinion held that the “placement of a product into the stream of commerce, without more, is not an act of the defendant purposefully directed toward the forum State. Additional conduct of the defendant may indicate an intent or purpose to serve the market in the forum state, for example, designing the product for the market in the forum state . . .” Id. at 112. This formulation came to be known as “stream of commerce plus.” In concluding that the district court lacked jurisdiction, the plurality opinion concluded that there was no evidence that Asahi “designed its product in anticipation of sales in California.” Id. at 113 (citation omitted). As an example of purposeful design that presumably would meet the “stream of commerce plus” test, Justice O’Connor’s opinion cited Rockwell Int’l Corp. v. Costruzioni Aeronautiche Giovanni Agusta, 553 F. Supp. 328 (E.D. Pa. 1982); see Asahi, 480 U.S. at 113. In that case, an Augusta A-109 helicopter crashed over the Ohio River. After plaintiff filed suit, the trial court considered whether it had personal jurisdiction over SNFA, a French manufacturer of ball bearings. These ball bearings were custom-designed exclusively for the A-109 helicopter, which was manufactured by Augusta, an Italian company. SNFA knew that Augusta marketed its helicopters to the “executive corporate transport market” in the United States and Europe. The district court found specific jurisdiction over SNFA, because SNFA designed the ball bearings exclusively for the A-109 helicopters, knowing that these helicopters would be sold in the United States (and other countries). Id. at 331-32. Finally, in support of its position, the Asahi plurality explained that application of the purposeful availment test is appropriate because a corporation then has clear notice that it is subject to suit there, and can act to alleviate the risk of burdensome litigation by procuring insurance, passing the expected costs on to customers, or, if the risks are too great, severing its connection with the State. Hence if the sale of a product . . . is not simply an isolated occurrence, but arises from the efforts of the manufacturer or distributor to serve, directly or indirectly, the market for its product in other States, it is not unreasonable to subject it to suit in one of those States . . . 480 U.S. at 110 (emphasis added) (citations and internal quotation marks omitted).