Question

1-1 Spotlight on AOL – Common Law. AOL, LLC, mistakenly made public the personal information of 650,000 of its members. The members filed a suit, alleging violations of California law. AOL asked the court to dismiss the suit on the basis of a "forum-selection" clause in its member agreement that designates Virginia courts as the place where member disputes will be tried. Under a decision of the United States Supreme Court, a forum-selection clause is unenforceable "if enforcement would contravene a strong public policy of the forum in which suit is brought." California has declared in other cases that the AOL clause contravenes a strong public policy. If the court applies the doctrine of stare decisis, will it dismiss the suit? Explain.

Answer 1

If the court uses the stare decisis doctrine, the case will be prevented from being dismissed.

Step-by-step explanation:

The stare decisis doctrine will provide the necessary support for the case to proceed within California. This is because we can see that there is a selection forum within this clause that is immutable and concrete and permanent, since AOL violated a very strong public policy, which is not to disclose personal data of members and employees. Because of this, judges cannot modify the obligation to continue the case in the state where public policy was violated.