The U.S. Supreme Court case that set precedent for jurisdictional disputes -- such as those implicated in product liability, labor, or child custody cases -- will be analyzed by internationally recognized legal scholars at a University of California, Davis, law school symposium on Friday, Feb. 10. The free public symposium, which begins at 9 a.m. in the Moot Court Room of the law school, marks the 50th anniversary of International Shoe vs. State of Washington. The precedent-setting case upheld the ability of state residents to sue out-of-state defendants. Today, however, many people think the decision is not working particularly well, and they see a need for a reform of the legal test involved in such cases, says Kevin Johnson, a UC Davis law school professor. The 1945 case involved the St. Louis-based International Shoe Company's Washington-based sales staff. The company did not want to pay unemployment insurance taxes for its sales personnel in Washington. But the U.S. Supreme Court held that the company could be sued in Washington, even though it was headquartered in Missouri. Today, the company is known as Interco, and owns the Converse and Florsheim shoe brands. The decision in the case has since been used as precedent in such recent litigation as a 1980s case involving a Japanese-made tire with a faulty valve sold in Solano County. The tire malfunctioned and killed a motorcyclist on Interstate 80, Johnson said. The question in that case was whether the Japanese company could be sued in the California courts. Among topics to be considered during the daylong symposium are the decision's impact, the need for reform of the International Shoe precedent and the decision's application to international defendants. Cruz Reynoso, UCLA law professor and former justice on the California Supreme Court, will be the luncheon speaker. He will talk at 12:15 p.m. in the University Club. A $10 luncheon fee will be charged. Other speakers during the symposium will include law faculty from across the country, from England and Israel and from UC Davis. The symposium is scheduled to conclude at 5 p.m. Papers presented at the symposium will be published in the summer 1995 edition of the University of California, Davis, Law Review. -