United States Ninth Circuit

In a dispute brought by a cruise line seeking to hold defendants liable for the destruction of a cruise ship by fire while it sailed from one Tahitian island to another, dismissal of certain defendants in the action is affirmed where: 1) the district court did not abuse its discretion in dismissing certain entities on the basis of forum selection clauses in defendant-French classification society's contracts with plaintiff; and 2) there was a lack of personal jurisdiction over other defendants, notwithstanding plaintiff's claims regarding a forum selection clause, defendants' allegedly purposeful direction towards Washington, and Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 4(k)(2).

Appellate Information

• Argued 12/07/2006
• Decided 05/07/2007
• Published 05/07/2007

Judges

• Before BETTY B. FLETCHER, SUSAN P. GRABER, and M. MARGARET McKEOWN, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Ninth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Frank Brucculeri and Bradley M. Rose, Kaye, Rose, and Partners, Los Angeles, California, for the plaintiffs-appellants.


• For Appellees:
  
• Christopher B. Kende and Rodney Q. Fonda, Cozen O'Connor, Seattle, Washington;  and Gerald Zingone, Thelen Reid Brown Raysman & Steiner, LLP, Washington, D.C., for the defendants-appellees.