Leota Bates writes:
In Caldwell v. Cheapcaribbean.com, No. 2:09-cv-13828, 2010 WL 3603778 (E.D. Mich. Sept. 8, 2010), the District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan denied Defendant Cheapcaribbean.com, Inc.’s (“CheapCaribbean”) motions to dismiss, finding that the internet travel site was subject to limited personal jurisdiction in Michigan and that the forum selection clause included in the website’s terms of use was not binding upon the plaintiff.
The part about the website’s terms of use is particularly interesting because the court’s message is that you can’t hold your customers to terms you post on your website if they’re doing business with you by phone and you don’t notify them:
The Court found persuasive the argument that the terms of use were not binding on plaintiff because she made her reservations over the telephone and because she was never notified that the defendants expected to apply the website terms of use to the telephone transaction until she received the travel voucher in the mail. In its analysis, the Court pointed out that the terms of use were browsewrap terms, that there was no evidence that Ms. Caldwell had ever clicked on the terms and that the link to the 1-800 number was prominently featured at the top of the page, while the link to the terms of use was in small font at the bottom of the page.
Read more on Law Across the Wire and Into the Cloud.