Oxford Global Resources, LLC v. Hernandez (Lawyers Weekly No. 12-065-17)
COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS SUFFOLK, ss. SUPERIOR COURT. 1684CV03911-BLS2 ____________________ OXFORD GLOBAL RESOURCES, LLC v. JEREMY HERNANDEZ ____________________ MEMORANDUM AND ORDER ALLOWING DEFENDANT’S MOTION TO DISMISS ON FORUM NON CONVENIENS GROUNDS Oxford Global Resources, LLC, is a recruiting and staffing company that places individual contractors who have specialized technical expertise with businesses who need workers having such skills. Oxford hired Jeremy Hernandez to work in its Campbell, California, office. To accept Oxford’s offer Hernandez had to and did sign an offer letter and a separate “protective covenants agreement” (the “Agreement”) that contains confidentiality, non-competition, and non-solicitation provisions. The Agreement provides that it is governed by Massachusetts law and that any suit arising from or relating to that contract must be brought in Massachusetts. Oxford alleges that Hernandez breached the Agreement by using information regarding the identity of Oxford’s customers to solicit those customers on behalf of a competitor in California. Hernandez has moved to dismiss this action under the forum non conveniens doctrine, arguing that this action should be heard in California, where he lives and worked for Oxford. The Court concludes that the forum selection clause is unenforceable and that the interests of justice require that this case be heard in California. The Court will therefore ALLOW the motion to dismiss pursuant to G.L. c. 223A, § 5, and the common law doctrine known as forum non conveniens. 1. Enforceability of the Forum Selection Clause. 1.1. California Law Governs the Agreement. Whether Massachusetts courts will enforce a forum selection clause like the one agreed to by Hernandez must be decided under whatever law governs the contract as a whole. See Melia v. Zenhire, Inc., 462 Mass. 164, 168 (2012); Jacobson v. Mailboxes Etc. U.S.A., Inc., 419 Mass. 572, 575 (1995). Thus, before deciding whether the Agreement’s mandatory forum selection clause is enforceable the Court must decide which State’s law governs this – 2 – contract.1 Although the Agreement specifies that it is governed by Massachusetts law, the Court concludes that choice-of-law provision is unenforceable and that the contract is instead governed by California law. “A choice-of-law clause should not be upheld where,” as here, “the party resisting it did not have a meaningful choice at the time of negotiation — i.e., where the parties had unequal bargaining power, and the party now attempting to enforce the choice-of-law clause essentially forced the clause upon the weaker party,” and enforcing the clause would be unfair to the weaker party. Taylor v. Eastern Connection Operating, Inc., 465 Mass. 191, 195 n.8 (2013). This follows from the general rule that contracts of adhesion are not enforceable if “they are unconscionable, offend public policy, or are shown to be unfair in the particular circumstances.” McInnes […]