Carnival Cruise Lines, Inc. v. Shute

Carnival Cruise Lines, Inc. v. Shute
499 U.S. 585 (1991)

Justice Blackman delivered opinion

Facts:

• Shutes, through Arlington, WA travel agent, purchased 7-day cruise on Carnival (ship named Tropicale)
• Shutes paid agent for tickets, agent forwarded pymt to C.C. headquarters in Miami, FL
• Carnival sent tickets to Shutes in WA
• On face of ticket was info re: contract contained w/in paperwork
• #8 reads that "all disputes and matters whatsoever arising under, in connection with or incident to this contract shall be litigated, if at all, in and before a court located in the state of FL, U.S.A., to the exclusion of the courts of any other state or country"
• Shutes board ship (in CA), while in intl water off coast of Mexico, Eulala Shute slips and falls injuring herself
• Shutes file suit in U.S. District Court for Western District of WA, claiming defendant was negligent
• Carnival moves for summary judgment
• arguing clause on ticket requires Shutes to bring suit in FL court

Issue:
Was the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit correct in refusing to enforce a forum selection clause contained in tickets issued by petitioner Carnival Cruise Lines, Inc. to the Shutes?

Holding: No. U.S. Sup Ct. held that the Court of Appeals erred in refusing to enforce the forum selection clause

Reasoning:
Note: This is an admiralty case, Fed. cts have jurisdiction over these matters

• Court does not review if Shutes had sufficient notice of forum clause
• Shutes (plaintiffs) say forum clause should not be enforced because clause was not a product of negotiation and enforcement would deprive them of their day in court

Court says:

• Unreasonable to assume in this type of contract that plaintiff would negotiate contract w/ defendant
• it is a form contract, terms are not subject to negotiation
• individual buying ticket has not "bargaining parity" w/ cruise line
  
• Reasonable to include forum clause
• cruise line has special interest in limiting the fora in which it could be subject to suit
• dispels any confusion about where suits arising from contract must be brought
• sparing litigants time & expense of pretrial motions to determine correct forum
• benefits consumers by reduced fares because company is able to limit where it can be sued
• there is judicial scrutiny of forum selection clauses for "fundamental fairness"
• no indication Carnival included forum clause to discourage legitimate suits
• defendant has principal place of bus. in FL and many cruises depart/return there
• no evidence plaintiff agreed to clause because of fraud or the state overreaching
• plaintiff had option of rejecting contract
  

Judgment: Reversed

Opinions:
Justice Stevens and Justice Marshall dissent

• Contracts of adhesion, offered on take-or-leave basis by stronger party
• Adhering party enters into contract without knowing and voluntary consent to all terms
• Contractual provisions which seek to limit court where suit can be brought are invalid as contrary to public policy
• Prevailing rule is still that forum selection clauses are not enforceable if they

1. were not freely bargained for
2. create addtl expenses for one party
3. deny one party a remedy
   

General vs. specific jurisdiction

Personal jurisdiction is not based on presence within the state. It is divided into two categories: general and specific. A state can claim personal jurisdiction if minimum contact is established.

When an out-of-state party has extensive, systematic and continuous dealings with the state in which the court sits this is general jurisdiction.

When a party does not have extensive, systematic and continuous dealings with the state but has a substantial connection to the party's in-state activity this is specific jurisdiction.

Books

When I first got my acceptance letter I was itching to get my hands on a textbook list so I could buy everything early and start reading like a bandit. Unfortunately, the school waits to get this information out there. Methinks they don't want you to order all of your books from such places as amazon.com and the like. Anyway, here's what we're reading at WUCL.

Contracts: Cases and Doctrines, 4th Ed.
by Randy E. Barnett

Torts and Compensation: Personal Accountability and Social Responsibility for Injury, 5th Ed.
by Dan B. Dobbs and Paul T. Hayden

Criminal Law: Cases and Materials, 4th Ed.
by Joshua Dressler

Civil Procedure, 7th Ed.

There are a host of other books but these are the main ones.

The dreaded first hit

That's right. Prof. T hammered me today in a surprise last minute question series on Asahi Metal Industry Co. v. Superior Court toward the end of class. (I thought I'd record the moment for posterity.) Was my response a shining example of student preparedness and clear thought? Not necessarily. And I made it worse by stumbling a bit at the beginning but I quickly found my stance, however wrong it may have been, and gave answers that seemed to satisfy so I'm calling it a clear success. When a few students chuckled during our exchange, Prof. T was quick to point out I was "right". Sweet.

My thoughts on the Socratic method so far...it's not nearly as bad as outlined in One L by Scott Turow (written in the 70s about his first year at Harvard Law). I expect to be called on in Torts later this week. Prof. R is going down the student roster alphabetically and he's getting dangerously close to my name. (Yes, I have been keeping track.) But now that I have gone through it once, it seems less scary. Well, still scary but less unknown.

Wednesdays are mean

I almost forgot. Wednesday suck. Here's why:

Torts: 9:10am - 10:10am
Civ Pro: 10:20am - 11:20am
Contracts: 11:30am - 12:30pm
Crim Law: 12:40pm - 1:40pm

No breaks. This, my friends, is a taxing day on the old brain.

Reading, reading, and more reading

Law school is about reading. Reading, reading, reading. All of the time reading. Reading in the morning. Reading in the afternoon. Reading in the evening. Reading, reading, Reading. Have I mentioned reading? It's mind-boggling reading. Much of the language feels stilted or weird. Not like pulp fiction you'd curl up on the couch and consume in a sitting. To be clear, I'm playing a bit o' catch up after the fubar that was my first week at school. I still have not been called on in class, although I have made an effort to raise my hand and contribute (the quality of the contribution we won't discuss). Here are the current stats:

Torts - approx. 70 pages covered / working on parental liability for the torts of their minor children
Civ Pro - approx. 100 pages covered / just finished WWVW v. Woodson and moving to Asahi Metal Industry Co. v. Superior Court
Crim Law - approx. 210 pages covered / reviewing actus rea and mens rea today
Contracts - approx. 40 pages covered / moving on from the vasectomy case at the beginning of the text
LR&W - through chapter 3 / worked on analyzing legal authority: statutes

Orientation didn't go the way I anticipated

Picture the first day, if you will. There are about 160 of us one Ls, dressed professionally, looking relatively sharp if not a wee bit uncomfortable. We are nervous and eager and introspective and garrulous. Most of us are wandering around trying not to offend and occasionally smiling at one another when we happen to catch each others eyes.

I was in the bookstore in the early afternoon, a couple of us had traveled there to purchase our books ahead of the scheduled time after cutting out of lunch early, when I got the call. The day before, H (my son) had gone in for his weight check and had some blood work done. (His numbers on the growth chart have recently fallen.) The news is not good. In fact, it is stunningly bad. I can't remember exactly what our pediatrician's nurse told me but the words "bone marrow test" were included. If ever there are words you don't want to hear during orientation at your first year of law school, "bone marrow test" are them.

Long story short, I missed the last day of orientation on Friday (we took H to the ER after he spiked a fever that morning at about 3:30am). I spoke with Student Services and they were kind enough to offer not only their sympathies and good wishes for a speedy recovery, but also to contact my professors to alert them to my situation. Participation in orientation is mandatory and I didn't want to be kicked out of the program if the docs were relatively optimistic about H making a full and complete recovery. I also emailed the professors directly, apologizing for my absence and offering up a brief explanation on my situation. I could not have anticipated the fantastically supportive e-mails I received from them in return.

Willamette is a wonderful school. One that just recently upped their success rate for first time bar takers to 86.4%. Those are the best numbers in Oregon and at the top of the list for schools in the NW. Woot.