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Long-Arm Statute
Practical Law Glossary Item 2-507-2482 (Approx. 3 pages)
Glossary
Long-Arm Statute
A statute allowing a state to exercise personal jurisdiction over a non-resident defendant who has certain contacts with the state. For example, New York's long-arm statute generally gives its courts the power to exercise personal jurisdiction over non-New York residents who:
- Transact business within New York.
- Committed torts (other than defamation) within New York.
- Committed torts (other than defamation) outside of New York, which injured persons or property located within New York, at least where the defendants also:
- regularly do or solicit business, engage in a persistent course of conduct, or derive substantial revenue from goods used or consumed or services rendered in New York; or
- expected, or should reasonably have expected, their acts to have consequences in New York and derive substantial revenue from interstate or international commerce.
- Own, use, or possess any real property situated within New York.
(CPLR 302(a).)
To properly exercise long-arm jurisdiction over a non-resident defendant, the plaintiff's cause of action must also arise out of one (or more) of the enumerated bases for jurisdiction set out by the state's long-arm statute (see, for example, CPLR 302(a)).
Even if a non-resident defendant is subject to personal jurisdiction under a state's long arm statute, a court located within the forum state may not exercise jurisdiction over that defendant if doing so would violate the Due Process Clause of the US Constitution. To satisfy the Due Process Clause, the defendant's contacts with the state must be such that it would "not offend traditional notions of fair play and substantial justice" to require the defendant to litigate in the forum (Int'l Shoe Co. v. Washington, 326 U.S. 310 (1945)).
For more information on long-arm statutes, see Practice Note, Motion to Dismiss: Lack of Personal Jurisdiction; Practice Note, Commencing a Federal Lawsuit: Filing and Serving the Complaint: Federal Long-Arm Statute; and Practice Note, Commencing a Federal Lawsuit: Initial Considerations: Out-of-State Defendants.