Siegelman v. Cunard White Star Ltd.
United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
221 F.2d 189 (1955)
The Siegelmans' passage ticket for a voyage on Cunard's (defendant) Queen Elizabeth specified a one-year limitations period for injury actions, required any waiver to be written and signed by designated officials, and selected English law to govern the contract; after Mrs. Siegelman was injured during the voyage and later died, a Cunard agent offered $800 in settlement eleven months later and told Siegelman's attorney no suit needed to be filed while the offer remained open, but the one-year period expired without a filed suit or accepted offer, and Cunard revoked the offer three months later. Siegelman (plaintiff) sued Cunard eleven months after that revocation, and the district court dismissed the complaint as barred by the contractual time limit, finding no valid waiver; Siegelman appealed.
Whether contract parties may choose the law that governs the validity of their contract where the chosen law bears some relation to the contract and is selected for bona fide reasons.