explaining that presence of forum-selection clause will be a “significant factor that figures centrally in the district court’s calculus,” but that § 1404(a) also requires consideration of “those public interest factors of systemic integrity and fairness that ... come under the heading of ‘the interests of justice’ ”
How later courts described this case
- explaining that presence of forum-selection clause will be a “significant factor that figures centrally in the district court’s calculus,” but that § 1404(a) also requires consideration of “those public interest factors of systemic integrity and fairness that ... come under the heading of ‘the interests of justice’ ”
- holding that forum selection clause providing that “any appropriate state or federal district court located in the Borough of Manhattan, New York City, New York, shall have exclusive jurisdiction” was not dispositive, but merely one factor to consider in transfer analysis (quoting underlying contract)
- holding that "[a] motion to transfer under § 1404(a) ... calls on the district court to weigh in the balance a number of case-specific factors,” including the presence of a forum-selection clause, but stating that such a clause should not receive dispositive consideration
- explaining that, “Section 1404(a) is intended to place discretion in the district court to adjudicate motions to transfer according to an ‘individualized, case-by-case consideration of convenience and fairness.’” (quoting Van Dusen v. Barrack, 376 U.S. 612, 622 (1964))
Written by the judges who cited it.
Later courts went against this
Questioned by Salovaara v. Jackson National Life Insurance, 66 F. Supp. 2d 593 (1999)
487 U.S. 22, 108 S.Ct. 2239, 101 L.Ed.2d 22 (1988); however, three years later the Court cast doubt on whether § 1404(a) is the proper motion,
The opinion
*33 Justice Kennedy,
with whom Justice O’Connor joins, concurring.
I concur in full. I write separately only to observe that enforcement of valid forum-selection clauses, bargained for by the parties, protects their legitimate expectations and furthers vital interests of the justice system. Although our opinion in The Bremen v. Zapata Off-Shore Co., 407 U. S. 1, 10 (1972), involved a Federal District Court sitting in admiralty, its reasoning applies with much force to federal courts sitting in diversity. The justifications we noted in The Bremen to counter the historical disfavor forum-selection clauses had received in American courts, id., at 9 , should be understood to guide the District Court’s analysis under § 1404(a).
The federal judicial system has a strong interest in the correct resolution of these questions, not only to spare litigants unnecessary costs but also to relieve courts of time-consuming pretrial motions. Courts should announce and encourage rules that support private parties who negotiate such clauses. Though state policies should be weighed in the balance, the authority and prerogative of the federal courts to determine the issue, as Congress has directed by § 1404(a), should be exercised so that a valid forum-selection clause is given controlling weight in all but the most exceptional cases. See The Bremen, supra, at 10 .