The Third District Court of Appeal reversed a Miami Trial Court’s order denying a cruise line’s Motion to Dismiss based on the forum selection provision found in the cruise ticket contract.
The passenger filed a negligence action against the cruise line operator in State Court. The cruise line moved to dismiss based on improper venue, and it supported the motion with a sworn statement that demonstrated the passenger checked it and accepted all terms and conditions of the ticket contract, including forum selection, prior to boarding the vessel.
The Court noted that 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.