Cheeky Cruise Company Lawyering
Business Scholarship Podcast tells a wonderful story of sneaky cruise ship lawyering. Andrew’s guest was John Coyle, contracts/choice-of-law guru. The discussion focused on the 11
th Circuit’s recent decision in
Myhra v. Royal Caribbean Cruises, Ltd., and John’s new article about that case
The backdrop to this story is US federal law that constrains cruise companies from contracting to limit liability in the small print of their contracts with customers; contract provisions that few read and fewer still pay attention to. John explains:
46 U.S.C. § 30509 . . . prohibits cruise companies from writing provisions into their passenger contracts that limit the company’s liability for personal injury or death incurred on cruises that stop at a U.S. port. The policy goal underlying this statute is simple. A cruise contract is the prototypical contract of adhesion. Absent the constraints imposed by the statute, a cruise company could wr