State ex rel. Stein v. E.I. DuPont de Nemours & Co.

Summary

The Court held that North Carolina may exercise specific personal jurisdiction over out-of-state corporate successors by imputing their in-state predecessor's contacts and liabilities when North Carolina law would impose the predecessor's liabilities on the successors. That rule applied because the successors expressly assumed Old DuPont's PFAS-related liabilities and the State adequately alleged that the restructuring fraudulently deprived creditors of assets. The Court affirmed denial of the motion to dismiss and remanded for further proceedings, while declining to decide the alternative direct-jurisdiction theory.