San Francisco partners Nick Martin and Juliana Salfiti and of counsel Alice Wong prevailed on a contested motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction in a new talc litigation matter. The plaintiff had allegedly developed mesothelioma from decades of use of various cosmetic products, including a name-brand powder. The team established as a matter of law that jurisdiction was not proper in California since the plaintiff, at most, intermittently visited California during the client's years of manufacturing the product, and there was no direct evidence of exposure in California within that time period. The Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles ruled: "Vague assertions, even under oath, without foundational details do not satisfy the plaintiff's burden of proving personal jurisdiction. ... Plaintiffs cite no law that buying a product in another state and then traveling with it to California establishes the elements of specific jurisdiction over the manufacturer and distributor of that product." The case will proceed against other parties.
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