Meyer v. Carnival Corp.

938 F. Supp. 2d 1251, 2013 WL 1449997, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 53455
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Florida
DecidedMarch 28, 2013
DocketCase No. 12-20321-CIV
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 938 F. Supp. 2d 1251 (Meyer v. Carnival Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Meyer v. Carnival Corp., 938 F. Supp. 2d 1251, 2013 WL 1449997, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 53455 (S.D. Fla. 2013).

Opinion

ORDER

WILLIAM J. ZLOCH, District Judge.

THIS MATTER is before the Court upon Defendant Cox & Company, Ltd.’s, Motion To Dismiss Plaintiffs Amended Complaint (DE 68). The Court held an evidentiary Hearing on the instant Motion (DE 68) on December 3, 2012. The Court has carefully reviewed said Motion, the entire court file and is otherwise fully advised in the premises.

I. Background

The above-styled cause arises out of a cruise taken by Plaintiff Michael Meyer (“Meyer”) and operated by Defendant Carnival Corporation (“Carnival”) in March of 2011. See DE 57. While on said cruise, Plaintiff Meyer took an excursion to the Pitons, the eroded remnants of two volcanic formations on the southwestern coast of the island of Saint Lucia, and a popular destination for tourists to the island. Said excursion was operated by Defendant Cox & Company, Ltd. (“Cox”), a Saint Lucian company. Plaintiff alleges that while on the excursion, he sustained injuries. By the instant Motion (DE 68), Defendant Cox argues, inter alia, that the Court cannot exercise personal jurisdiction over it. The Court will first consider this threshold jurisdictional issue.

II. Personal Jurisdiction

The Court’s analysis of this issue rests first on the interpretation of two contracts. The first contract, a Cruise Ticket Contract made between Defendant Carnival and Plaintiff Meyer, states:

[I]t is agreed by and between the Guest and Carnival that all disputes and matters whatsoever arising under, in connection with or incident to this Contract or the Guest’s cruise, including travel to and from the vessel, shall be litigated, if at all, before the United States District [1255]*1255Court for the Southern District of Florida in Miami ...

DE 69-1, p. 18. The second, and more important of the two contracts, the Standard Excursion Contract, was executed between Defendant Cox and Defendant Carnival. DE 68-2 The relevant portion of this contract is a conferral of jurisdiction clause, stating in pertinent part:

In the event of litigation, the prevailing party shall be entitled to recover all costs incurred in connection with the litigation including, without limitation, reasonable attorney’s fees. OPERATOR [Cox] consents to the personal jurisdiction over it and to the venue of the courts serving the Southern District of Florida in the event of any lawsuit to which CARNIVAL is a party and which is related to, in connection with, arising from or involving the Shore Excursion or the terms of this Agreement.

DE 68-2, p. 3. The record also includes a Catamaran Ticket Contract (DE 69-1, p. 42), which Plaintiff. alleges was executed between Meyer and Carnival/Cox, and drafted by Carnival. The Catamaran Ticket Contract contains neither a forum selection clause nor a conferral of jurisdiction clause.

Plaintiff has stated that he brings the above-styled cause under the Court’s diversity jurisdiction, 28 U.S.C. ■ § 1332, and/or the Court’s general maritime jurisdiction, 28 U.S.C. § 1333, and/or the Court’s supplemental jurisdiction, 28 U.S.C. § 1367, and/or the Extension of Admiralty Jurisdiction Act, 46, U.S.C. § 30101. DE 57, p. 2. Indeed, the allegations of Plaintiff’s Amended Complaint (DE 57) satisfy the requirements of diversity jurisdiction, and the Court is also able to exercise its original jurisdiction over the above-styled cause as it involves a claim arising under the laws of the United States. The Court must therefore decide whether it can apply solely federal law, or must also apply Florida state law, including Florida’s long-arm statute, in determining if it can properly exercise personal jurisdiction over Defendant Cox.

Plaintiff argues that the Court need only apply federal law in enforcing the conferral of jurisdiction clause found in the Standard Excursion Contract. Citing to the seminal Burger King case, Plaintiff echoes the Supreme Court’s statement that “because the personal jurisdiction requirement is a waivable right, there are a ‘variety of legal arrangements’ by which a litigant may give ‘express or implied consent to the personal jurisdiction of the court.’ ” Burger King Corp. v. Rudzewicz, 471 U.S. 462, 473 n. 14, 105 S.Ct. 2174, 85 L.Ed.2d 528 (1985) (internal citations omitted). In that case, the Supreme Court further emphasized that “parties frequently stipulate in advance to submit their controversies for resolution within a particular jurisdiction” and these “forum-selection provision” ■ do not offend due process where they have been obtained through “ ‘freely negotiated’ agreements and are not ‘unreasonable and unjust.’” Id. (internal citations omitted). However, that case is distinguishable from this case for two reasons. First, in this case Plaintiff Meyer is attempting to enforce a contract to which Plaintiff was not a party, the Standard Excursion Contract. Second, the jurisdictional element of the contract is a conferral of jurisdiction clause and not a forum-selection clause.

Plaintiff has also cited to the Eleventh Circuit’s holding in Alexander Proudfoot Co. v. Thayer, in which the court considered the application of the Erie doctrine to a case in which two parties “specifically consented] to personal jurisdiction in Florida” by way of a forum selection clause. 877 F.2d 912, 914 (11th Cir.1989). In that case, the Eleventh Circuit considered the aims of the Erie doctrine, one of [1256]*1256which is to avoid forum shopping. Id. at 918. The Court noted that federal law favors the enforcement of conferral of personal jurisdiction clauses, while under Florida law “conferral of personal jurisdiction clauses are not enforced unless an independent ground for personal jurisdiction exists under the Florida Long Arm Statute.” Id. (citing McRae v. J.D./M.D., Inc., 511 So.2d 540 (Fla.1987)). The Eleventh Circuit considered the hypothetical situation in which a district court in Florida would apply federal law to the exclusion of Florida state law:

A diverse plaintiff suing a defendant without any contacts in the forum state, but who has-signed a conferral of personal jurisdiction clause, may file suit in federal or state court. A federal court would enforce the conferral of personal jurisdiction clause under federal law, and the action would proceed. The plaintiff suing the same defendant. in state court would face dismissal for lack of personal jurisdiction, the contractual clause notwithstanding. This difference in outcomes indicates that a plaintiff with a choice of forum would file in federal court to escape the effect of the state law. Accordingly, the application of federal judge-made law would dis-serve the first aim of Erie.

Id. at 918-19. This portion of Proudfoot that has been misquoted by Plaintiff only illustrates- what would happen if a district court, sitting in diversity, were to only apply federal law in determining the validity of a forum selection clause. After all, in Proudfoot,

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Related

Thompson v. Carnival Corp.
174 F. Supp. 3d 1327 (S.D. Florida, 2016)
Carmouche v. Carnival Corp.
36 F. Supp. 3d 1335 (S.D. Florida, 2014)
Aronson v. Celebrity Cruises, Inc.
30 F. Supp. 3d 1379 (S.D. Florida, 2014)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
938 F. Supp. 2d 1251, 2013 WL 1449997, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 53455, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/meyer-v-carnival-corp-flsd-2013.