Source: http://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/571/12-929/opinion3.html
Timestamp: 2014-08-22 13:56:33
Document Index: 708624587

Matched Legal Cases: ['art, 487', '§1406', '§1406', '§1404', '§1404', '§1404', '§1404', '§1404', '§1404', '§1404', '§1404']

Atlantic Marine Constr. Co. v. United States Dist. Court for Western Dist. of Tex. :: 571 U.S. ___ (2013) :: Justia US Supreme Court Center Justia.comFind a LawyerLegal AnswersLawMore ▾Justia BlogVerdictLaw Blog DirectoryLegal FormsUS Law US Supreme Court Cases Federal Cases US Constitution US Code Federal RegulationsFederal DocketsState CasesState Codes & StatutesTrademarksPatentsCompany Legal ProfilesMarketing ServicesSign InSearchJustia › US Law › US Case Law › US Supreme Court › Volume 571 › Atlantic Marine Constr. Co. v. United States Dist. Court for Western Dist. of Tex. › Opinion
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Our holding also finds support in Stewart, 487 U. S. 22
. As here, the parties in Stewart had included a forum-selection clause in the relevant contract, but the plaintiff filed suit in a different federal district. The defendant had initially moved to transfer the case or, in the alternative, to dismiss for improper venue under §1406(a), but by the time the case reached this Court, the defendant had abandoned its §1406(a) argument and sought only transfer under §1404(a). We rejected the plaintiff’s argument that state law governs a motion to transfer venue pursuant to a forum-selection clause, concluding instead that “federal law, specifically 28 U. S. C. §1404(a), governs the District Court’s decision whether to give effect to the parties’ forum-selection clause.” Id., at 32. We went on to explain that a “motion to transfer under §1404(a) . . . calls on the district court to weigh in the balance a number of case-specific factors” and that the “presence of a forum-selection clause . . . will be a significant factor that figures centrally in the district court’s calculus.” Id., at 29.
Second, a court evaluating a defendant’s §1404(a) motion to transfer based on a forum-selection clause should not consider arguments about the parties’ private interests. When parties agree to a forum-selection clause, they waive the right to challenge the preselected forum as inconvenient or less convenient for themselves or their witnesses, or for their pursuit of the litigation. A court accordingly must deem the private-interest factors to weigh entirely in favor of the preselected forum. As we have explained in a different but “ ‘instructive’ ” context, Stewart, supra, at 28, “[w]hatever ‘inconvenience’ [the parties] would suffer by being forced to litigate in the contractual forum as [they] agreed to do was clearly foreseeable at the time of contracting.” The Bremen v. Zapata Off-Shore Co., 407 U. S. 1
–18 (1972); see also Stewart, supra, at 33 (Kennedy, J., concurring) (stating that Bremen’s “reasoning applies with much force to federal courts sitting in diversity”).
Third, when a party bound by a forum-selection clause flouts its contractual obligation and files suit in a different forum, a §1404(a) transfer of venue will not carry with it the original venue’s choice-of-law rules—a factor that in some circumstances may affect public-interest considerations. See Piper Aircraft Co. v. Reyno, 454 U. S. 235
, n. 6 (1981) (listing a court’s familiarity with the “law that must govern the action” as a potential factor). A federal court sitting in diversity ordinarily must follow the choice-of-law rules of the State in which it sits. See Klaxon Co. v. Stentor Elec. Mfg. Co., 313 U. S. 487
–496 (1941). However, we previously identified an exception to that prin- ciple for §1404(a) transfers, requiring that the state law applicable in the original court also apply in the trans- feree court. See Van Dusen, 376 U. S., at 639. We deemed that exception necessary to prevent “defendants, properly subjected to suit in the transferor State,” from “invok[ing] §1404(a) to gain the benefits of the laws of another jurisdiction . . . .” Id., at 638; see Ferens v. John Deere Co., 494 U. S. 516, 522 (1990)
Venue was otherwise proper in the Western District of Texas because the subcontract at issue in the suit was entered into and was to be performed in that district. See United States ex rel. J-Crew Management, Inc. v. Atlantic Marine Constr. Co., 2012 WL 8499879, *5 (WD Tex., Apr. 6, 2012) (citing ).
Factors relating to the parties’ private interests include “relative ease of access to sources of proof; availability of compulsory process for attendance of unwilling, and the cost of obtaining attendance of willing, witnesses; possibility of view of premises, if view would be appropriate to the action; and all other practical problems that make trial of a case easy, expeditious and inexpensive.” Piper Aircraft Co. v. Reyno, (internal quotation marks omitted). Public-interest factors may include “the administrative difficulties flowing from court congestion; the local interest in having localized controversies decided at home; [and] the interest in having the trial of a diversity case in a forum that is at home with the law.” Ibid. (internal quotation marks omitted). The Court must also give some weight to the plaintiffs’ choice of forum. See Norwood v. Kirkpatrick, .
We note that this “privilege” exists within the confines of statutory limitations, and “[i]n most instances, the purpose of statutorily specified venue is to protect the defendant against the risk that a plaintiff will select an unfair or inconvenient place of trial.” Leroy v. Great Western United Corp., –184 (1979).
For the reasons detailed above, see Part II–B, supra, the same standards should apply to motions to dismiss for forum non conveniens in cases involving valid forum-selection clauses pointing to state or for-eign forums. We have noted in contexts unrelated to forum-selection clauses that a defendant “invoking forum non conveniens ordinarily bears a heavy burden in opposing the plaintiff’s chosen forum.” Sinochem Int’l Co. v. Malaysia Int’l Shipping Co., . That is because of the “hars[h] result” of that doctrine: Unlike a §1404(a) motion, a successful motion under forum non conveniens requires dismissal of the case. Norwood, 349 U. S., at 32. That inconveniences plaintiffs in several respects and even “makes it possible for [plaintiffs] to lose out completely, through the running of the statute of limitations in the forum finally deemed appropriate.” Id., at 31 (internal quotation marks omitted). Such caution is not warranted, however, when the plaintiff has violated a contractual obligation by filing suitin a forum other than the one specified in a valid forum-selection clause. In such a case, dismissal would work no injustice on the plaintiff.