Document Type

Working Paper

Publication Date

3-27-2015

SSRN Discipline

Legal Scholarship Network; Law School Research Papers - Legal Studies; Litigation, Procedure & Dispute Resolution eJournals; Law & Society eJournals; LSN Subject Matter eJournals; Constitutional Law, Jurisprudence & Legal Philosophy eJournals; Political Science Network; Anthropology & Archaeology Research Network

Abstract

The Supreme Courts unanimous decision in Atlantic Marine clarified several things about the enforcement of forumselection clauses in federal court But something important was missing from Justice Alitos opinion "” the Erie doctrine Erie of course helps to determine the applicability of state law in federal court and state law potentially has a lot to say about contractual forumselection clauses Indeed Erie was front and center the last time the Court confronted the enforcement of forumselection clauses in federal court when it decided Stewart Organization v Ricoh a quarter century ago This article for the Hastings Law Journals symposium on Atlantic Marine examines that decision through the lens of Erie and explores the role that Erie and state law should play in the Atlantic Marine framework Atlantic Marine may appear at first glance to mandate virtually unflinching enforcement of forumselection clauses But Justice Alitos approach in Atlantic Marine applies only when the forumselection clause is contractually valid Properly understood Erie requires federal courts to look to state law to decide this question "” at least in diversity cases To allow federal courts to disregard state law in applying Atlantic Marine would raise several troubling Erie concerns geographic relocation contrary to what would occur in state court changing the substantive law that would govern the ultimate merits of the litigation in state court and overriding state contract law and contractual remedies via the sort of federal common law that Erie forbids

Download

Share

COinS