Contract – Forum-selection Clause

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7^th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: Natasha Mueller, et al. Apple Leisure Corporation

Case No.: 16-2885

Officials: EASTERBROOK, SYKES, and HAMILTON, Circuit Judges.

Focus: Contract – Forum-selection Clause

Natasha Mueller suffered a severe bout of food poisoning after she was served contaminated fish at a resort in the Dominican Republic while on her honeymoon. She and her husband sued several affiliated companies that sold and managed their vacation package. They filed their suit in federal court in the Eastern District of Wisconsin, where they live and purchased their trip. The vacation contract, however, contains a forum-selection clause requiring the parties to litigate their disputes in Delaware County, Pennsylvania.

The defendants moved to dismiss, citing the forum-selection clause in the travel contract. The district judge applied the doctrine of forum non conveniens and dismissed the case based on the forum-selection clause. The Muellers cry foul, insisting that the judge’s order was procedurally irregular because the dismissal motion did not expressly invoke that doctrine. They also argue that the judge should have converted the motion to one for summary judgment and allowed discovery before ruling on the issue.

We affirm. The judge’s decision was procedurally and substantively sound. A forum-selection clause channeling litigation to a nonfederal forum is enforced through the doctrine of forum non conveniens. Atl. Marine Const. Co. v. U.S. Dist. Ct. for the W. Dist. of Tex., 134 S. Ct. 568, 580 (2013). Atlantic Marine holds that only an exceptional public-interest justification can displace a contractual choice of forum. Id. at 581. The Muellers have not identified any public interest to justify overriding the forum-selection clause in their travel contract. Dismissal on the pleadings was entirely appropriate.

Affirmed

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Attorney Derek A. Hawkins is the managing partner at Hawkins Law Offices LLC, where he heads up the firm’s startup law practice. He specializes in business formation, corporate governance, intellectual property protection, private equity and venture capital funding and mergers & acquisitions. Check out the website at www.hawkins-lawoffices.com or contact them at 262-737-8825.