SCOTUS Upholds Choice of Law in Marine Insurance Policy

The Supreme Court ruled unanimously Feb. 21 that “[l]ongstanding precedent in both this Court and the Courts of Appeals establishes a federal maritime rule that choice-of-law provisions in maritime contracts are presumptively enforceable.”

The court declined in Great Lakes Insurance SE v. Raiders Retreat Realty Co., LLC to create a new exception for cases where there was a conflict between the law of the forum state and the law of the state designated by the contract, finding no historical basis for such an exception and concluding that it would significantly undermine the predictability and uniformity that maritime law seeks to afford. The court also declined to adopt a rule that state law should apply in marine insurance cases, concluding that nothing in the court’s prior cases supported such an exception.