Nedlloyd Lines B.V. v. Superior Court of San Mateo County Seawinds, Ltd.
California Supreme Court
834 P.2d 1148 (1992)
- Written by Craig Conway, LLM
Facts
Seawinds, Ltd. (plaintiff) was a shipping company that operated three container ships. Seawinds was incorporated in Hong Kong and had its principal place of business in California. Seawinds filed for bankruptcy. Nedlloyd Lines B.V. (Nedlloyd) (defendant) was a shipping company incorporated in the Netherlands. Nedlloyd and several other companies (defendants) contracted to purchase shares of stock in Seawinds. The contract contained a choice-of-law clause stating that the agreement was governed by and construed in accordance with Hong Kong law. Several years later, Seawinds filed suit in California state court against Nedlloyd for breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, and other claims. Nedlloyd moved to dismiss the complaint and argued that Hong Kong law governed the contract. Seawinds argued that California law applied. The trial court applied California law and held for Seawinds. Nedlloyd appealed, and the court of appeal affirmed. The Supreme Court of California granted certiorari.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Baxter, J.)
Concurrence/Dissent (Panelli, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 805,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,300 briefs, keyed to 988 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.
