Washington – The Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA) has filed a friend of the court brief at the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in Briskin v. Shopify supporting a decision that would require plaintiffs’ lawsuits to comport with the U.S. Constitution. A three-judge panel held in 2023 that, under the Due Process clause, a company cannot be sued in a state where the company did not direct its services. The 9th Circuit will review that decision en banc, and its decision could have ramifications for a great deal of internet-based commerce in the United States.
This appeal regards whether a company that provides back-end support to online retailers can be forced to defend claims anywhere in the country simply because their service might facilitate a transaction there. The trial court and appellate panel rejected that result, and now a plaintiff asks the full 9th Circuit to overturn those decisions.
The following can be attributed to CCIA Senior Vice President and Chief of Staff Stephanie Joyce:
“The 9th Circuit panel got it right: companies must affirmatively direct their services to a state before they can be hauled into court there. The plaintiff is asking the court to ignore 30 years of precedent established by the court, as well as the Due Process Clause of the U.S. Constitution. CCIA supports Shopify’s position that plaintiff’s argument is both legally incorrect and foolhardy. Companies that support online commerce would face crippling litigation exposure, and could be forced to cease providing their valuable, innovative services to the companies on which users rely for efficient, cost-saving purchases. Internet commerce would come to a screeching halt.”