Ford Must Face Minnesota Airbag Suit Over Car Sold Out of State

Ford Motor Co. must face suit in Minnesota by a state resident who alleges he suffered a brain injury caused by a defectively designed airbag in a car first sold in another state.

The automaker’s contacts with Minnesota show enough of a nexus with Adam Bandemer’s claims to support specific, or case-linked, jurisdiction there, a divided Minnesota Supreme Court said July 31.

The court majority rejected Ford’s argument that its contacts with the state weren’t sufficiently linked to Bandemer’s suit because the car he was in was designed, manufactured, and originally sold outside Minnesota.

Bandemer was a passenger in a ...