Burger King Corp. v. Rudzewicz (471 U.S. 462)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided May 20, 1985 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 471 U.S. 462 · 105 S. Ct. 2174
- Decided
- May 20, 1985
- Term
- October Term 1984
- Vote
- 6–2
- Majority author
- Justice Brennan
- Issue area
- Due Process
- Disposition
- Reversed and remanded
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Conservative
Opinion excerpt
Justice Brennan delivered the opinion of the Court. The State of Florida’s long-arm statute extends jurisdiction to “[a]ny person, whether or not a citizen or resident of this state,” who, inter alia, “[b]reach[es] a contract in this state by failing to perform acts required by the contract to be performed in this state,” so long as the cause of action arises from the alleged contractual breach. Fla. Stat. § 48.193 (1)(g) (Supp. 1984). The United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida, sitting in diversity, relied on this provision in exercising personal jurisdiction over a Michigan resident who allegedly had breached a franchise agreement with a Florida corporation by failing to make required payments in Florida. The question presented is whether this exercise of long-arm jurisdiction offended “traditional conception[s] of fair play and substantial justice” embodied in the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. International Shoe Co. v. Washington, 326 U. S. 310, 320 (1945). I A Burger King Corporation is a Florida corporation whose principal offices are in Miami. It is one of the world’s largest restaurant organizations, with over 3,000 outlets in the 50 States, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and 8 foreign nations. Burger King conducts approximately 80% of its business through a franchise operation that the company styles the “Burger King…
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