Lauro Lines s.r.l. v. Chasser
United States Supreme Court
490 U.S. 495 (1989)
Chasser and other passengers (plaintiffs) aboard Lauro's (defendant's) cruise ship, hijacked by terrorists, sued for injuries and a fellow passenger's wrongful death; Lauro moved to dismiss based on a forum-selection clause printed on the tickets, but the district court found the tickets gave passengers no reasonable notice of the clause and denied the motion. Lauro appealed, and the Second Circuit dismissed the appeal as interlocutory and outside the collateral-order exception, prompting the Supreme Court's grant of certiorari.
Whether an interlocutory order of the district court denying a defendant's motion to dismiss a damages action based on a contractual forum-selection clause is immediately appealable.