Selling an item on eBay…

…is not enough contact with the buyer’s state to subject you to the jurisdiction of its courts, according to a judge on Staten Island who ruled that even New York’s “long arm” law has its limits. (Mark Fass, “Contact Held Insufficient to Sue eBay Seller”, New York Law Journal, Mar. 7). I discussed the rise […]

…is not enough contact with the buyer’s state to subject you to the jurisdiction of its courts, according to a judge on Staten Island who ruled that even New York’s “long arm” law has its limits. (Mark Fass, “Contact Held Insufficient to Sue eBay Seller”, New York Law Journal, Mar. 7). I discussed the rise of long-arm jurisdiction, and the powerful impetus it can provide to litigation in many situations, in Chapter 4 (PDF) of my book The Litigation Explosion.

P.S. As commenter Elliot points out, “even” was not the mot juste in this circumstance; New York’s long-arm statute has never been interpreted as liberally as, say, California’s.

One Comment

  • New York’s “long arm law” has *lot* of limits. It’s one of the narrowest I have ever encountered in my legal practice. Now, California has a *real* long arm statute.