Question

1–4. 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 courts have 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?

Answer 1

Answer:

If the court applies the Stare decisis doctrine, the case will not be dismissed.

Explanation:

The stare decisis doctrine will provide the necessary legal bases for the case to proceed within California. This will happen because there is a legal decision applied throughout the national territory that states that this type of clause, which presents a selection forum, is inexorable. This happens because the AOL clause violated, in fact, a very strong public policy, so the judges are obliged to continue with the case, within the state where the public policy was violated.