Forum Selection Clauses

A forum selection clause is a contractual provision that selects a court to resolve disputes. When suit is filed in a jurisdiction that is not the chosen forum, the clause may provide a basis for dismissal or transfer. When suit is filed in the chosen forum, the clause may provide a basis for asserting personal jurisdiction over the defendant.

A Primer on Forum Selection Clauses

By John F. Coyle
March 26, 2022 posted in: Forum Selection Clauses

A forum selection clause is a contractual provision that selects a specific court to resolve disputes. When suit is filed in a court that is not the chosen forum, the clause may provide a basis for dismissal or transfer. When suit is filed in the chosen forum, the clause may provide a basis for the…

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Recent Posts

A Drafting Catastrophe

By John F. Coyle
April 22, 2026 posted in: Forum Selection Clauses

While on vacation at the Breathless Montego Bay Resort and Spa in Jamaica, Jacqueline Williams slipped and fell. Upon returning home to Wisconsin, Williams filed a lawsuit in federal district court in Illinois alleging negligence against five companies that allegedly owned or operated the resort. The corporate defendants moved to dismiss based on forum non…

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SDNY Enforces Swiss Forum Selection Clause

By John F. Coyle
March 10, 2026 posted in: Forum Selection Clauses

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit sees a lot of cases involving forum selection clauses. Perhaps as a result, that court has taken the time to articulate a comprehensive, four-step framework for determining how and when these provisions should be given effect.  In this post, I first discuss a recent case in…

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Forum Selection Clauses and Subject-Matter Jurisdiction

By John F. Coyle
January 28, 2026 posted in: Forum Selection Clauses

The forum selection clause is the Swiss Army Knife of transnational litigation. It may be used to obtain personal jurisdiction over a defendant who otherwise lacks any connection to the chosen jurisdiction. It may supply a reason for dismissing a case filed in a jurisdiction other than the one named in the clause. It may be deployed to…

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Resources

Restatement (Second) of Conflict of Laws § 80

Model Choice of Forum Act

Statutes Directing Courts to Enforce Forum Selection Clauses

Statutes Directing Courts to Ignore Forum Selection Clauses

The Bremen v. Zapata Off-Shore Co., 407 U.S. 1 (1972)

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

Atlantic Marine Construction Co. v. U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, 571 U.S. 49 (2013)

Bibliography

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John F. Coyle. "Contractually Valid" Forum Selection Clauses, 108 Iowa L. Rev. 127 (2022) (SSRN)

Gary B. Born, The Hague Convention on Choice of Court Agreements: A Critical Assessment, 169 U. Penn. L. Rev. 2079 (2021) (Penn)

John F. Coyle & Robin J. Effron, Forum Selection Clauses, Non-Signatories, and Personal Jurisdiction, 97 Notre Dame L. Rev. 187 (2021) (SSRN)

John F. Coyle & Katherine C. Richardson, Enforcing Outbound Forum Selection Clauses in State Court, 96 Ind. L.J. 1089 (2021) (SSRN)

John F. Coyle & Katherine C. Richardson, Enforcing Inbound Forum Selection Clauses in State Court, 53 Ariz. St. L.J. 65 (2021) (SSRN)

John F. Coyle, Cruise Contracts, Public Policy, and Foreign Forum Selection Clauses, 75 U. Miami L. Rev. 1087 (2021) (SSRN)

Tanya J. Monestier, Damages for Breach of a Forum Selection Clause, 58 Am. Bus. L.J. 271 (2021) (SSRN)

Cara Reichard, Keeping Litigation at Home: The Role of States in Preventing Unjust Choice of Forum, 129 Yale L.J. 866 (2020) (Yale)

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Patrick J. Borchers, Forum Selection Agreements in the Federal Courts After Carnival Cruise: A Proposal for Congressional Reform, 67 Wash. L. Rev. 55 (1992) (Washington)

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Linda S. Mullenix, Another Easy Case, Some More Bad Law: Carnival Cruise Lines and Contractual Personal Jurisdiction, 27 Tex. Int’l L.J. 323 (1992) (SSRN)

Lee Goldman, My Way and the Highway: The Law and Economics of Choice of Forum Clauses in Consumer Form Contracts, 86 Nw. U. L. Rev. 700 (1992)

Leandra Lederman, Viva Zapata!: Toward a Rational System of Forum-Selection Clause Enforcement in Diversity Cases, 66 N.Y.U. L. Rev. 422 (1991) (Indiana)

Robert A. de By, Forum Selection Clauses: Substantive or Procedural for Erie Purposes, 89 Colum. L. Rev. 1068 (1989) (JSTOR)

Linda S. Mullenix, Another Choice of Forum, Another Choice of Law: Consensual Adjudicatory Procedure in Federal Court, 57 Fordham L. Rev. 291 (1988) (Texas)

Michael Gruson, Forum-Selection Clauses in International and Interstate Commercial Agreements, 1982 U. Ill. L. Rev. 133

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Willis L. M. Reese, The Model Choice of Forum Act, 17 Am. J. Comp. L. 292 (1969) (Oxford)