Date: 10-08-2014

Case Style: Royal Caribbean Cruises, Ltd. v. Jeanette Clarke

Case Number: 3D14-871

Judge: Fernandez

Court: Florida Court of Appeal, Third District on appeal from the Circuit Court, Miami-Dade County

Plaintiff's Attorney: Goldstein and Goldstein, and Phil Goldstein, for appellee.

Defendant's Attorney: Mase Lara, P.A., Curt Mase and Valentina M. Tejera and Cameron W. Eubanks, for appellant.

Description: Royal Caribbean Cruises, LTD. appeals the trial court’s order denying its
motion to dismiss for improper venue. We reverse because Royal Caribbean
reasonably communicated to appellee Jeanette Clarke the forum selection clause of
the ticket contract before she boarded the vessel, and Royal Caribbean had no
obligation to remove the case to federal court.
On October 9, 2013, Clarke, a passenger aboard a Royal Caribbean vessel,
filed a negligence claim against Royal Caribbean in state court, a few days before
the expiration of the contractual one-year limitation period. Royal
Caribbean moved to dismiss Clarke’s complaint on improper venue grounds. In
support of its motion, Royal Caribbean submitted an affidavit which established
that Clarke needed to check in and accept all of the terms and conditions of
the ticket contract before she boarded the vessel. The trial court denied Royal
Caribbean’s motion to dismiss, finding that there was no evidence Clarke received
and read the ticket contract before she boarded the vessel.

The first paragraph of the ticket contract indicated in bold and capital
letters that it “[c]ontains important limitations on the rights of passengers, it is
important that you carefully read all terms of this contract, paying particular
attention to section 3 and sections 9 through 11,” which pertained to the forum
selection clause and the one-year limitation period to file suit provision. The forum
selection clause in section 9 stated, “[a]ll disputes and matters whatsoever arising
under, in connection with or incident to this agreement . . . shall be litigated, if at
all, in and before the United States District Court for the Southern District of
Florida located in Miami-Dade County, Florida . . . .”

2
The record reflects that Royal Caribbean reasonably communicated to
Clarke the existence of important terms and conditions of the ticket contract before
she boarded the vessel. The appropriate inquiry is whether a cruise ship operator
“reasonably communicates to passengers the existence within the ticket of
important terms and conditions which affect legal rights,” not whether the
passenger actually received and read the ticket contract. Leslie v. Carnival Corp.,
22 So. 3d 567, 574 (Fla. 3d DCA 2009).
The record sufficiently established that Clarke entered into the ticket
contract and the first paragraph of the ticket contract reasonably communicated to
Clarke, in bold and capital letters, important limitations such as the forum selection
clause and the one-year limitation to file suit. The record also reflects Clarke
timely filed her negligence suit and, as such, she acknowledged the ticket
contract’s provision relative to the application of the one-year limitation period to
file suit. The ticket contract’s forum selection clause, like the one-year limitation
period provision, was contained in the ticket contract.
Clarke also failed to satisfy her burden of establishing the non-enforcement
of the forum selection clause. The United States Supreme Court has held forum
selection clauses are “prima facie valid” and enforceable. Carnival Cruise Lines,
Inc. v. Shute, 499 U.S. 585, 589 (1991). The party contesting the application of a
forum selection clause bears the burden of establishing its non-enforcement. Atl.
3
Marine Constr. Co., Inc. v. U.S. Dist. Ct. for the W. Dist. of Texas, 134 S. Ct. 568,
574-75 (2013). It is undisputed that Clarke offered no evidence to avoid
enforcement of the forum selection clause.
Finally, Royal Caribbean had no obligation to remove the case to federal
court in Miami after Clarke filed the negligence claim in the Eleventh Judicial
Circuit Court for Miami-Dade County. This Court has enforced similar forum
selection clauses and has recognized dismissal as a proper mechanism to enforce a
forum selection clause of a cruise ticket. Weisenberg v. Costa Crociere, S.p.A., 35
So. 3d 910, 912 (Fla. 3d DCA 2010); Assiff v. Carnival Corp., 930 So. 2d 776, 778
(Fla. 3d DCA 2006).
We thus conclude that Clarke is bound by the forum selection clause
contained in the ticket contract because Royal Caribbean reasonably
communicated to her the terms and conditions of the ticket contract, and we further
conclude that Royal Caribbean had no obligation to remove the case to federal
court. We therefore reverse the trial court’s order denying Royal Caribbean’s
motion to dismiss for improper venue.

Outcome: Reversed.

Plaintiff's Experts:

Defendant's Experts:

Comments: