Can you consent to jurisdiction

In conducting this review, we documented the existence of several different enforcement frameworks across states. The state courts in New York, for example, take a very different approach to determining whether such a clause is enforceable than the state courts in Florida, which in turn take a very different approach to this question than the state courts in Utah.

These differences in enforcement frameworks notwithstanding, we found that consent-to-jurisdiction clauses are routinely given effect. When the courts refuse to enforce these clauses, moreover, they tend to cite just a handful of predictable reasons. First, the courts may refuse to enforce when the clause fails to provide proper notice to the defendant of the chosen forum.

Second, the courts may conclude that the clause should not be given effect because the parties lack a connection to the chosen forum or that litigating in that forum would be seriously inconvenient.

Third, a clause may go unenforced because it is contrary to the public policy of a state with a close connection to the parties and the dispute. After mapping the relevant terrain, we then proceed to make several proposals for reform. We argue that the courts should generally decline to enforce consent-to-jurisdiction clauses when they are written into contracts of adhesion and deployed against unsophisticated counterparties.

However, a plaintiff party cannot indiscriminately choose where to file a lawsuit. In the United States, for example, their decision is curtailed by way of the defendant's constitutional right to due process, as granted in the Fourteenth Amendment of the U. The idea here is that it would not be fair to drag someone to court in a state with which the individual has no ties.

Rules of civil procedure under English law impose a similar requirement. When the plaintiff , i. The same does not necessarily apply to the defendant, who is, after all, being brought to court involuntarily. If the defendant is domiciled in New York, they clearly have enough ties with the state of New York.

The same is true for companies that are conducting regular business in New York. When none of the situations foreseen in the long-arm statute apply, the only way a court can entertain jurisdiction over a person is by consent. Although anyone can act as an agent for service of process , most parties — especially within the context of large cross-border financial transactions — prefer to work with a reliable and professional service company.

Topics: Process Agent. P: Americas EMEA.