Vermont Wholesale Building Products, Inc. v. J.W. Jones Lumber Co., 154 N.H. 625

Summary

The Supreme Court of New Hampshire reviewed whether a North Carolina lumber manufacturer was subject to specific personal jurisdiction in New Hampshire based on its awareness that products sold to a Vermont distributor would enter a four-state market including New Hampshire. The court adopted the stream-of-commerce-plus approach, holding that awareness alone is insufficient to establish purposeful availment. It vacated the trial court’s denial of the motion to dismiss and remanded for further proceedings.

Holdings

1. Mere awareness that a product may or will reach New Hampshire through the stream of commerce is insufficient to establish purposeful availment. The defendant must engage in additional conduct indicating an intent or purpose to serve the New Hampshire market.
2. The trial court erred by relying on the stream-of-commerce rationale alone and by basing jurisdiction on Jones Lumber's awareness that its product would likely reach New Hampshire.

Questions Presented

1. Whether New Hampshire could exercise specific personal jurisdiction over a nonresident manufacturer whose product entered New Hampshire through a distributor when the manufacturer knew the distributor operated in a region including New Hampshire.
2. Whether mere awareness that a product would reach New Hampshire through the stream of commerce, without additional conduct directed toward New Hampshire, constitutes purposeful availment under the Due Process Clause.

Disposition

vacated