Coyle on Forum Selection Clauses in Cruise Contracts

John Coyle (University of North Carolina) has posted Cruise Contracts, Public Policy, and Foreign Forum Selection Clauses on SSRN.

The abstract reads:

This Essay critiques the analytical framework used by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit to determine when to enforce foreign forum selection clauses in cruise ship passenger contracts. In Estate of Myhra v. Royal Caribbean Cruises, Ltd., the Eleventh Circuit held that such clauses should be enforced even when the foreign court is likely to give effect to provisions in the Athens Convention that limit the liability of the cruise company. This approach is flawed, the Essay argues, because it fails to account for the fact that 46 U.S.C. § 30509 expressly prohibits cruise companies from utilizing contract provisions to limit their liability in passenger contracts. The Essay then looks to analogous cases from other areas of the law to propose a new analytical framework for evaluating when the courts should enforce foreign forum selection clauses in the cruise ship context.

The paper is forthcoming in the University of Miami Law Review.