Thompson v. Norwegian Cruise Line, 1:17-cv-20254

Plaintiff Cheri Thompson sued NCL (Norwegian Cruise Line) for personal injuries from a fall on a wet dance floor aboard an NCL ship that departed Boston in August 2016.
NCL moved to transfer the case to the Southern District of Florida (Miami) under 28 U.S.C. §1404(a), citing the Guest Ticket Contract's forum-selection clause naming Miami as the exclusive jurisdiction.
NCL argued the incident occurred outside Massachusetts, its headquarters and many potential witnesses are in Miami, and numerous courts have upheld NCL’s ticket forum clause as reasonable.
Thompson did not oppose the motion; NCL submitted a letter stating Thompson consented to transfer.
The only apparent Massachusetts connection was Thompson’s residence; no dispute was raised about the clause’s enforceability or reasonableness.
The court granted the motion to transfer the case to the Southern District of Florida.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Enforceability of forum-selection clause	No opposition; consented to transfer	Ticket’s Miami forum clause is prima facie valid and reasonable	Enforce clause; transfer granted
Appropriateness of transfer under §1404(a)	(no contest)	Transfer promotes convenience: incident outside MA; witnesses and headquarters in Miami	§1404(a) transfer to S.D. Fla. is appropriate

Stewart Org., Inc. v. Ricoh Corp., 487 U.S. 22 (court should give significant weight to forum-selection clauses in transfer analysis)
The Bremen v. Zapata Off-Shore Co., 407 U.S. 1 (forum-selection clauses in maritime contracts are prima facie valid and enforceable unless unreasonable)
Reynolds-Naughton v. Norwegian Cruise Line Ltd., 386 F.3d 1 (1st Cir. 2004) (upholding NCL ticket provisions)
Lurie v. Norwegian Cruise Lines, Ltd., 305 F. Supp. 2d 352 (S.D.N.Y. 2004) (finding NCL ticket forum clauses reasonable)
Colby v. Norwegian Cruise Lines, Inc., 921 F. Supp. 86 (D. Conn. 1996) (upholding forum-selection clause)