United States Ninth Circuit

Dismissal of a breach of contract suit brought after a shipment of international goods was damaged while en route to inland U.S. destinations is reversed and remanded where: 1) a forum selection clause is valid under the Carmack Amendment only if the parties fulfill one of the Carmack's two statutory methods for contracting out of the statute's venue restrictions; and 2) the district court did not determine whether the parties contracted out of Carmack's venue restrictions under section 10502 so as to make the Tokyo forum selection clause valid and enforceable.

Appellate Information

• Argued 06/01/2008
• Decided 02/04/2009
• Published 02/04/2009

Judges

• Before: STEPHEN TROTT, SIDNEY R. THOMAS and RAYMOND C. FISHER, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Ninth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Dennis Cammarano, Law Offices of Dennis A. Cammarano, Long Beach, CA, for the plaintiffs-appellants.


• For Appellees:
  
• Alan Nakazawa, Cogswell Nakazawa & Chang, LLP, Long Beach, CA, for the defendants-appellees Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, Ltd. and K-Line America, Inc., Leslie G. McMurray, Valley Village, CA, for the defendant-appellee, Union Pacific Railroad Company.