Court Opinion

ID: 9596569
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 00:51:15.755112+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:39:18.903317
License: Public Domain

WYNN, Judge
dissenting.
Because our case law holds that the denial of a motion to dismiss based on an alleged forum-selection clause is immediately appeal-able, I respectfully dissent.
Preliminarily, I note that a motion to dismiss due to a forum-selection clause is more properly brought pursuant to North Carolina Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(3), allowing dismissal for improper venue. N.C. Gen. Stat. § 1A-1, Rule 12(b)(3) (2004). Here, Defendants brought their motion to dismiss pursuant to North Carolina Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(1), allowing dismissal for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction. N.C. Gen. Stat. § 1A-1, Rule 12(b)(1) (2004). Nevertheless, it is clear from Defendants’ motion to dismiss that Defendants moved to dismiss, inter alia, due to the applicability of the forum-selection clause — the issue thus before us now. Hickox v. R&G Group Int’l, Inc., 161 N.C. App. 510, 588 S.E.2d 566 (2003) (reviewing a motion to dismiss based on the application of a forum-selection clause brought under Rule 12(b)(1) and Rule 12(b)(2) rather than Rule 12(b)(3)).3
The majority correctly notes that a denial of a motion to dismiss is an interlocutory order and thus not ordinarily appealable. However, if the issue pertains to the application of a forum-selection clause, our courts have held that a defendant may nevertheless immediately appeal the order because the order affects a substantial right. Hickox, 161 N.C. App. at 511-12, 588 S.E.2d at 567-68; Mark Group Int’l, Inc. *413v. Still, 151 N.C. App. 565, 566 n.1, 566 S.E.2d 160, 161 n.1 (2002) (the denial of a motion to dismiss based on a forum-selection clause is immediately appealable); Cox v. Dine-A-Mate, Inc., 129 N.C. App. 773, 776, 501 S.E.2d 353, 355 (1998) (same).
The majority notes that whether the terms of the employment contract containing the alleged forum-selection clause are valid and enforceable “is a question of fact still pending in the trial court.” But pending before this Court is the issue of the applicability of the contract’s alleged forum-selection clause. Because a motion to dismiss due to a forum-selection clause is immediately appealable, I believe dismissal is improper.

. In another recent, albeit unpublished, case, this Court reviewed a motion to dismiss challenging jurisdiction on the basis of a forum-selection clause. Seaboard Container Cleaning, LLC v. Four Seasons Envtl., Inc., No. COA03-1367, 2004 N.C. App. LEXIS 2245, at *4 (N.C. Ct. App. Aug. 25, 2004) (“In its motion to dismiss here, defendant alleges lack of jurisdiction, contending that the agreement between the parties contained a binding forum-selection clause, and thus, this interlocutory appeal is properly before us.”).