Idiosyncratic Approaches to Enforcing Choice-of-Law Clauses
On December 16, 2025, the Sixth Circuit decided Andujar v. Hub Group Trucking, Inc. The issue presented was whether the Tennessee Supreme Court had adopted Section 187 of the Restatement (Second) of Conflict of Laws as the test for determining whether a choice-of-law clause should be given effect as a matter of Tennessee common law….
Continue ReadingCalifornia Supreme Court Narrows Grounds for Non-Enforcement of Foreign Forum Selection Clauses
On July 21, 2025, the California Supreme Court issued its first opinion in many years addressing the enforceability of a forum selection clause. In EpicentRx v. Superior Court, it held that the fact that the court named in the clause did not allow for jury trials was not a valid basis for declining to enforce…
Continue ReadingNew Article on the Public Policy Exception to Choice of Law
In every private international law system, the forum state reserves the right to reject the application of a foreign rule that deeply offends the forum’s fundamental sense of justice and fairness. In all systems, this “public policy reservation” (ordre public) operates as an exception to the forum’s choice-of-law rules, not its rules on jurisdiction or…
Continue ReadingFourth Circuit Rejects Forum Non Conveniens Defense to Enforcing Arbitral Award
The New York Convention governs the recognition and enforcement of most foreign arbitral awards in the United States. Article V of the Convention sets forth limited grounds on which enforcement may be refused. But Article III makes the enforcement of foreign arbitral awards subject to “the rules of procedure of the territory where the award…
Continue ReadingA Primer on Choice of Law
Choice-of-law rules are used to determine the rights, duties, and liabilities of persons involved in a case with a connection to more than one jurisdiction. In the United States, most choice-of-law rules are state law; the federal government rarely legislates in this area. Courts in the United States apply the same choice-of-law rules to international…
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