Thomas M. "Tom" Brownell is a Partner in our
Northern-Virginia office .
The Supreme Court has strongly endorsed forum selection clauses
in government subcontracts. In Atlantic Marine Construction
Company, Inc. v. U. S. Dist. Court, 234 S.Ct. 568 (U.S. December 3,
2013), Atlantic Marine, a Virginia-based company, was the prime
contractor on a U.S. Army contract to build a child development
center at Ft. Hood, Texas. It hired a local Texas subcontractor,
J-Crew, and inserted a clause in the subcontract requiring that all
disputes between the parties be litigated in Virginia state or
federal courts. When J-Crew sued in Texas, the district court
denied Atlantic Marine's motion to transfer the case to
Virginia or dismiss for forum non-conveniens and Atlantic Marine
appealed. The Supreme Court reversed both the district court and
the court of appeals, which had allowed the case to proceed in
Texas, reasoning that it was improper to dismiss or transfer
because the case
