Forum Selection

• Author: International Law Group
• Pages: 112-113

Page 112

Global International Marine (Defendant) hired Honduran native Dilbert Ivan Calix-Chacon (Plaintiff) to work as a seaman on one of its ships. Plaintiff , who speaks limited English, signed an employment contract, which was written in English that contained a choice of law clause providing that Honduran law would apply to the employment agreement. The agreement also contained a forum selection clause, limiting jurisdiction for claims arising out of the employment agreement or for injury to be brought exclusively in a court of competent jurisdiction in Honduras.

Plaintiff worked on a U.S. flagged vessel that was in dry dock in Louisiana undergoing routine maintenance and inspections. Plaintiff experienced severe stomach pain while doing maintenance aboard ship. He was taken to the hospital in Houma, Louisiana, were he was diagnosed with an infl amed gall bladder and his gall bladder was removed. After the surgery doctors determined that plaintiff had an enlarged heart, and recommended an immediate heart transplant.

Defendant agreed to pay for the gall bladder surgery, but refused to pay for the heart transplant. Plaintiff fi led suite in federal district court. The district court held the forum selection clause unenforceable and held an expedited trial on the merits. The court ordered defendant to pay for all necessary past and future care as recommended by plaintiff's doctors. Defendant appealed.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit vacates and remands further proceedings to determine whether the forum selection clause is enforceable under the guidelines established in Bremen and its progeny.

The issue on appeal is whether this is an exceptional case where the forum selection clause in the seaman's employment contract should be considered so unfair and unreasonable as to be unenforceable.

"The case which is most factually analogous to today's case is a decision by this court in Marinechance Shipping, Ltd. v. Sebastian, 143 F.3d 216 (5th Cir. 1998). In that case, we applied the Bremen/Shute analysis to a forum selection clause included in a seaman's employment contract... The seamen were employed under a contract approved by the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration. The contract required that "any disputes ... shall be referred for settlement solely to the exclusive jurisdiction of the competent Courts or Authorities, as the case may be, in the country of the seaman's nationality where the contract of employment...