Calder v. Jones
Supreme Court of the United States Official seal of the Supreme Court of the United States File links The following pages link to this file: Marbury v. ...
Argued November 8, 1983 Decided March 20, 1984
Full case name: Calder, et al. v. Shirley Jones Citations: 465 U.S. 783 Prior history: Appeal from the Supreme Court of California. Subsequent history: ---
Holding
A state's courts could assert personal jurisdiction over the author or editor of a libelous article, where the author or editor knew that the article would be widely circulated in the state where the subject of the article would be injured by the libelous assertion.
Court membership
Chief Justice Warren Burger Associate Justices Byron R. White, Lewis Powell, Thurgood Marshall, Harry Blackmun, William J. Brennan, William Rehnquist, John Paul Stevens, Sandra Day O'Connor
Case opinions
Majority by: Rehnquist Joined by: unanimous court
Laws applied
U.S. Constitution, Amendment XIV

Calder v. Jones, 465 U.S. 783 (1984), was a case in which the United States Supreme Court held that a state could assert personal jurisdiction over the publisher of a national magazine which published an allegedly libelous article about a resident of that state, and where the magazine had wide circulation in that state. Court citation is a standard system used in common law countries such as the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia to uniquely identify the location of past court cases in special series of books called reporters. ... 1984 is a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Supreme Court Building, Washington, D.C. The Supreme Court Building, Washington, D.C., (large image) The Supreme Court of the United States, located in Washington, D.C., is the highest court (see supreme court) in the United States; that is, it has ultimate judicial authority within the United States... Personal jurisdiction, jurisdiction of (or over) the person, or jurisdiction in personam is the power of a court to require a party (usually the defendant) or a witness to come before the court. ... A collection of magazines A magazine is a periodical publication containing a variety of articles on various subjects. ... In English and American law, and systems based on them, libel and slander are two forms of defamation (or defamation of character), which is the tort or delict of making a false statement of fact that injures someones reputation. ...

Facts

The plaintiff, actress Shirley Jones, sued the defendants, the National Enquirer, its distributor, the writer of the article, and Calder, the editor-in-chief of the magazine, over an October 9, 1979 article in which the Enquirer alleged that Jones was an alcoholic. Jones lived in California, and although the Enquirer article had been written and edited in Florida, Jones filed her lawsuit in a California state court. Jones asserted that the court had jurisdiction based on the large circulation Enquirer enjoyed in California - selling over 600,000 copies each week out of a total national circulation of about 5,000,000 copies per week. A plaintiff, also known as a claimant, or a complainant is the party who initiates a lawsuit (also known as an action) before a court. ... Actors in period costume sharing a joke whilst waiting between takes during location filming. ... Shirley Jones, in a still from the opening credits of The Partridge Family. ... A defendant is any party who is required to answer the complaint of a plaintiff in a civil lawsuit before a court, or any party who has been formally charged or accused of violating a criminal statute. ... The National Enquirer is a national American supermarket tabloid. ... October 9 is the 282nd day of the year (283rd in Leap years). ... 1979 is a common year starting on Monday. ... This article needs cleanup. ... State nickname: The Golden State Other U.S. States Capital Sacramento Largest city Los Angeles Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) Official languages English Area 410,000 km² (3rd)  - Land 404,298 km²  - Water 20,047 km² (4. ... State nickname: Sunshine State Other U.S. States Capital Tallahassee Largest city Jacksonville Governor Jeb Bush (R) Official languages English Area 170,451 km² (22nd)  - Land 137,374 km²  - Water 30,486 km² (17. ... // A lawsuit is a civil action brought before a court in which the party commencing the action, the plaintiff, seeks a legal remedy. ...

The trial court dismissed the claim on the grounds that it lacked personal jurisdiction over the defendants, basing this finding on First Amendment concerns that permitting jurisdiction in such cases would chill free speech. The California Court of Appeal reversed, and the Supreme Court of California upheld the appellate court. Calder appealed, as did the writer of the article, contending that the writer and editor of a magazine article were like welders of a boiler part. In such a case, although the manufacturer of the product could be held liable in another state where the product caused an injury, a worker who had neither a stake in the distribution nor any control over it would not be held liable in that state. Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... Court of Appeals is the title of certain appellate courts in various jurisdictions. ... Justices of the Supreme Court of California (circa. ...

Issue

The issue presented to the U.S. Supreme Court was whether the sale of a magazine article provided sufficient minimum contacts to permit the assertion of personal jurisdiction over the editor of that article, pursuant to the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Minimum contacts is a term used in the United States law of civil procedure to determine when it is appropriate for a court in one state to assert in personam jurisdiction (i. ... Due process of law is a legal concept that ensures the government will respect all of a persons legal rights instead of just some or most of those legal rights, when the government deprives a person of life, liberty, or property. ... Amendment XIV (the Fourteenth Amendment) of the United States Constitution is one of the post-Civil War amendments and includes the due process and equal protection clauses (Section 1). ...

Opinion of the Court

The Court, in a unanimous opinion written by Justice Rehnquist, held that the California courts did have jurisdiction over the defendant. Rehnquist wrote that the analogy to a welder "does not wash," noting that the editor was aware that the magazine had a significant circulation in California, that the plaintiff resided in California, and that the allegations made in the article would harm her career there. The Court also rejected any First Amendment considerations, noting that the defendants could assert a First Amendment defense against the claim itself, but not against the jurisdiction of the state court to hear the claim. William H. Rehnquist has served as the Chief Justice of the United States since 1986. ...

Other developments

On the same day as this decision was reported, the Court held in Keeton v. Hustler Magazine, Inc., 465 U.S. 770 (1984), that jurisdiction would also be found even where the party injured by the libelous assertion was not a resident of the state where the lawsuit was brought. Court citation is a standard system used in common law countries such as the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia to uniquely identify the location of past court cases in special series of books called reporters. ... 1984 is a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

External link

• 465 U.S. 783 (Text of the opinion on Findlaw.com)