Walden v. Fiore

Walden v. Fiore
Supreme Court of the United States
Decided February 25, 2014
Full case name	Walden v. Fiore
Citations	571 U.S. 277 ( more )
Holding
For a state to exercise personal jurisdiction over a defendant, its relationship with the defendant must arise out of contacts that the defendant created with the forum; the plaintiff cannot be the only link between the defendant and the forum.
Court membership
Chief Justice John Roberts Associate Justices Antonin Scalia  · Anthony Kennedy Clarence Thomas  · Ruth Bader Ginsburg Stephen Breyer  · Samuel Alito Sonia Sotomayor  · Elena Kagan
Case opinion
Majority	Thomas, joined by unanimous

Walden v. Fiore, 571 U.S. 277(2014), was a United States Supreme Court case in which the court held that for a state to exercise personal jurisdiction over a defendant, its relationship with the defendant must arise out of contacts that the defendant created with the forum; the plaintiff cannot be the only link between the defendant and the forum. ^{[1] [2]}

Background

Anthony Walden, a Georgia police officer working as a deputized Drug Enforcement Administration agent at a Georgia airport, searched respondents and seized a large amount of cash. The plaintiffs, including Gina Fiore, alleged that, after they returned to their Nevada residence, Walden helped draft a false probable cause affidavit in support of the funds' forfeiture and forwarded it to a United States Attorney's Office in Georgia. In the end, no forfeiture complaint was filed, and the plaintiffs' funds were returned. The plaintiffs filed a tort suit against Walden in federal district court in Nevada. The district court dismissed the suit, finding that the Georgia search and seizure did not establish a basis to exercise personal jurisdiction in Nevada. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed, holding that the district court could properly exercise jurisdiction because Walden had submitted the false probable cause affidavit with the knowledge that it would affect persons with significant Nevada connections. ^[1]

Opinion of the court

The Supreme Court issued an opinion on February 25, 2014. ^[1]

References

1. Walden v. Fiore, 571 U.S. 277 (2014).
2. Baude, William (February 26, 2014). "Opinion analysis: The boundaries of specific jurisdiction". SCOTUSblog. Retrieved July 23, 2025.

External links

• Text of Walden v. Fiore, 571 U.S. 277(2014) is available from: Cornell Findlaw Justia

This article incorporates written opinion of a United States federal court. As a work of the U.S. federal government, the text is in the public domain .