On December 3, 2013, in the case of Atlantic Marine Construction Co., Inc. v. United States Dist. Ct. for W.D. Tex., the U.S. Supreme Court revised the standard that federal courts must follow in deciding whether to grant a motion to transfer venue under 28 U.S.C. § 1404(a) when the parties have contractually pre-selected a forum. This new standard involves three considerations which will make forum-selection clauses almost absolutely binding.

In analyzing a party’s motion to transfer venue in a case arising from a contract with a valid forum-selection clause, the federal courts now must 1) not give any weight to the plaintiff’s choice of forum; 2) not consider the parties’ arguments about their private interests; and 3) declare that when the case is transferred to the pre-selected venue, the transferring venue’s choice-of-law rules will not apply in the transferee (pre-selected) venue. The Court’s full opinion is available here.

This decision places added importance on drafting contracts with valid forum selection clauses. In all but the most unusual of cases, such clauses will be honored by federal courts.