In Re Automobile Antitrust Cases I and II

Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, Peter Sullivan, Douglas B. Miner, Raminta A. Rudys, Joel Sanders, San Francisco, for Nissan Motor Ltd.

Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, Norman C. Hile, Michael C. Weed, Sacramento, for Honda Motors Co., Ltd.

Buchalter, Nemer, Fields & Younger, Richard Darwin, San Francisco, Fried, Frank, Harris Shriver & Jacobson, Eric H. Queen, Deborah A. Garza, Franklin M. Rubenstein, Los Angeles, for Canadian Automobile Dealers Association.

Herzfeld & Rubin, Craig L. Winterman, Jeffrey Chase, Los Angeles, for Volkswagen AG.

Certified For Partial Publication. [*]

REARDON, Acting P.J.

In this coordinated proceeding, the trial court concluded that it lacked personal jurisdiction over four nonresident foreign defendants: Honda Motors Co., Ltd. of Japan (Honda), Volkswagen AG of Germany (Volkswagen), Nissan Motor Ltd. of Japan (Nissan) and the Canadian Automobile Dealers' Association (CADA) of Canada. As such, it granted motions to quash service of summons brought by each of these defendants. The plaintiffs [1] appeal, contending that the three parent manufacturers (1) are subject to the specific jurisdiction of California courts under the stream of commerce doctrine…