Keeping Litigation at Home: The Role of States in Preventing Unjust Choice of Forum.

NOTE CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 869 I. NARROWING ACCESS TO THE COURTS: THE ANTI-LITIGATION TREND AND THE IMPOTENCE OF STATES AFTER CONCEPCION 873 II. CHOICE OF FORUM AND ITS IMPLICATIONS 876 A. [...]
Choice-of-forum clauses can pose a significant obstacle to individuals hoping to bring claims against corporations. By limiting claims to particular geographic locations, choice of forum is part of a larger trend of constricted access to the courts. Compared to other restrictions, however, the Supreme Court's inconclusive stance on choice of forum means that this is one area where states have room to legislate to protect individual plaintiffs. This Note catalogs the surprising breadth of existing state anti-choice-of-forum statutes and argues that states can and should continue legislating in this area, particularly for contractual relationships most commonly defined by resource and power disparities.