Forum Non Conveniens And Choice Of Law – Issues Post BMS

Interestingly, it's a case that is almost a year old that has us thinking about litigation tourism post Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. v. Superior Court, 137 S. Ct. 1773 (2017).   We know that plaintiffs' forum shopping gamesmanship isn't over. It's just gotten a lot more difficult now that the Supreme Court has said non-resident plaintiffs can't go suing non-resident defendants anywhere they want. The most straight forward way for plaintiffs to stay out of federal court, assuming that is their goal, is to sue in defendant's home state. Per the forum defendant rule, even where diversity exists, a defendant cannot remove a case to federal court if one of defendants (properly joined and served) is a citizen of the state in which the case was filed. See 28 U.S.C. § 1441(b). Stuck in state court, which isn't always a bad thing, defendants then need to carefully consider forum non conveniens and choice of law issues.