Unlike “general” personal jurisdiction, which allows a court to hear all claims against a defendant as long as that defendant is “at home” in the state, “specific” jurisdiction applies to defendants with less intimate ties to the forum state but who nevertheless purposefully avail themselves of the privilege of conducting activities there, as long as there is a sufficiently strong connection between the plaintiff’s claims and the defendant’s contacts with the forum state. The U.S. Supreme Court has issued numerous important decisions over the past decade regarding both general and specific personal jurisdiction, including most recently the Court’s 2021 specific jurisdiction decision in Ford Motor Co. v. Mont. Eighth Jud. Dist. Ct.
