Jurisdictional Selection

Jurisdiction can create significant issues for businesses that have business dealings in various places. Defending lawsuits in some jurisdictions can be very unfavorable for companies because of a loss of “home field advantage” and cost. A written contract may allow a business to demand that disputes be litigated in a jurisdiction (“forum”) that they choose at the time the contract was executed. These forum-selection clauses are often a point of litigation.

Review the definition of a forum selection clause.

https://www.merriam-webster.com/legal/forum%20selection%20clause

Read the following articles and then discuss the questions below:

U.S. Supreme Court Reaffirms that Forum-Selection Clauses Are Presumptively Enforceable

https://www.americanbar.org/groups/business_law/publications/blt/2014/01/keeping_current_duffee/

What's Left to Litigate about Forum Selection Clauses?

https://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/publications/franchising_law_journal/spring2017/flj-v36-4-02-doroghazi.authcheckdam.pdf

Why would the court choose to enforce a forum-selection clause? What are some reasons that a court would not choose to enforce a forum-selection clause? Do you think forum-selection clauses are fair to plaintiffs? Can you locate a case in your jurisdiction where the court enforced a forum-selection clause and transferred a case to the selected forum?

Be sure to support your discussion points with examples and authoritative sources.

References

Business Law Today. (2014, January 23). U.S. Supreme Court Reaffirms that Forum-Selection Clauses Are Presumptively Enforceable. American Bar Association. https://www.americanbar.org/groups/business_law/publications/blt/2014/01/keeping_current_duffee/

Doroghazi, J. & Norman, D. (2017). What’s left to litigate about forum selection clauses? Atlantic Marine turns four. Franchise Law Journal 36(4), 581-601.

Merriam-Webster. (n.d.). Forum selection clause. In Merriam-Webster.com legal dictionary. https://www.merriam-webster.com/legal/forum%20selection%20clause

Jurisdiction issues can cause problems for business owners cause when a lawsuit case comes up, there is a legal quagmire for who has the authority to charge the accused to court.

The main reason why a court would choose to enforce a forum-selection clause is to help the parties avoid wasteful litigation over which court will have jurisdiction

What is Jurisdiction?

This refers to the legal term for the legal authority granted to a legal entity to enact justice in a given geographical area.

Hence, we can see that Jurisdiction issues can cause problems for business owners cause when a lawsuit case comes up, there is a legal quagmire for who has the authority to charge the accused to court.

The main reason why a court would choose to enforce a forum-selection clause is to help the parties avoid wasteful litigation over which court will have jurisdiction