Gracita Chang v. Carnival Corporation, 839 F.3d 993

Plaintiff slipped and fell aboard Carnival’s cruise ship on December 9, 2012 and brought a personal-injury claim tied to the ship’s passenger ticket.
The ticket contained a one-year contractual limitations period for suing and a forum-selection clause requiring suit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida (or Miami‑Dade state court only if federal subject-matter jurisdiction is lacking).
Defendant twice notified Plaintiff’s California counsel (Sept. 4 and Oct. 22, 2013) that it would enforce the forum-selection clause and would not waive the defense.
Plaintiff filed a state-court action in Florida a few days before the one-year deadline, rather than in the specified federal court; Defendant moved to dismiss the state suit for improper venue.
While the state-court dismissal was pending, Plaintiff filed in the Southern District of Florida on March 4, 2014 — almost three months after the ticket’s one-year limitation had expired.
The district court granted summary judgment for Defendant, holding Plaintiff failed to show equitable tolling; the Eleventh Circuit affirmed.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether filing a timely state-court action in the wrong forum equitably tolled the ticket’s one-year limitation so a later-filed federal suit is timely	The state filing within one year equitably tolled the limitations period, excusing the late federal filing	Tolling is not warranted because the ticket mandated federal forum when federal jurisdiction exists, Defendant timely and clearly refused to waive that clause, and Plaintiff knew or should have known limitations were running	No tolling; Plaintiff’s federal suit was untimely and summary judgment for Defendant affirmed

Justice v. United States, 6 F.3d 1474 (11th Cir. 1993) (equitable tolling is extraordinary and plaintiff bears burden; due diligence required)
Booth v. Carnival Corp., 522 F.3d 1148 (11th Cir. 2008) (found tolling where timely state suit was filed, dismissal was venue-only, defendant’s conduct suggested waiver was possible)
Bailey v. Carnival Cruise Lines, Inc., 774 F.2d 1577 (11th Cir. 1985) (contractual and statutory limitations treated similarly)
Travaglio v. Am. Exp. Co., 735 F.3d 1266 (11th Cir. 2013) (statements by counsel in briefs are not evidence)
Pines v. Warnaco, Inc., 706 F.2d 1173 (11th Cir. 1983) (mere allegations cannot defeat summary judgment; plaintiff must introduce evidence to toll statute)
Carnival Cruise Lines, Inc. v. Shute, 499 U.S. 585 (U.S. 1991) (forum-selection clauses serve to avoid confusion and conserve judicial resources)
Irwin v. Dep’t of Veterans Affairs, 498 U.S. 89 (U.S. 1990) (clients are charged with notice of facts known to their attorneys)
Morrison v. Amway Corp., 323 F.3d 920 (11th Cir. 2003) (instruction on following earliest controlling circuit precedent)