Losson v. Union Des Associations Europeennes De Football

Background

Jerry Losson alleged that he signed up to watch European football on UEFA.com and UEFA.tv, websites operated by Union Des Associations Europeennes De Football. He claimed that UEFA shared his video-viewing history with Meta and other companies in violation of the Video Privacy Protection Act, 18 U.S.C. § 2710(a)(4). UEFA moved to dismiss.

Losson did not dispute that he agreed to UEFA.com’s Terms & Conditions when he signed up. The terms included a forum-selection clause requiring disputes connected with the terms to be litigated in the courts of Nyon, Switzerland. The terms also incorporated UEFA’s Privacy Policy and Cookie Policy. The court noted that the Privacy Policy disclosed that UEFA collected data about subscribers’ website use and could share personal data with Facebook, and that Losson opted in under the Cookie Policy.

Court’s Analysis

The court addressed venue before personal jurisdiction because resolving venue first could avoid the need for jurisdictional discovery. It applied federal contract-law principles to determine the scope of the forum-selection clause.

The clause covered disputes “in connection with” the Terms & Conditions. The court held that this language applied to Losson’s claims because his alleged injury arose from his use of UEFA’s websites, which was logically and causally connected to the Terms & Conditions governing access to those websites. The court rejected Losson’s argument that the clause applied only to contract claims or claims requiring interpretation of the Terms & Conditions. Under the cited Ninth Circuit law, a forum-selection clause can apply to tort claims when they have a logical or causal connection to the agreement.

The court also held that the clause was enforceable. Losson did not argue that the clause resulted from fraud or overreaching or that it violated a strong public policy. He instead argued that he and the proposed class would effectively lose their day in court because Switzerland lacked a comparable class-action procedure and offered different privacy remedies. The court rejected those arguments, reasoning that a foreign forum may be enforceable even if it provides less effective or different remedies, so long as it has a basically fair court system. The court also found nothing unreasonable about requiring litigation in Europe given that Losson subscribed to websites owned by a European organization governing European football.

Disposition

The court held that Losson’s claims were connected with the Terms & Conditions and that the Swiss forum-selection clause applied and was enforceable. It therefore GRANTED UEFA’s motion to dismiss for forum non conveniens. The order states that it disposed of Docket No. 20. The opinion does not state whether the dismissal was with or without prejudice, and it did not decide the merits of Losson’s Video Privacy Protection Act claim.