Prokopeva v. Carnival Corp.

Russian citizen Yana Prokopeva (plaintiff) worked as a stewardess aboard the Conquest (defendant), a ship owned by Carnival Corporation doing business as Carnival Cruise Lines (Carnival) (defendant). In July 2007, Prokopeva allegedly injured her back and body aboard the Conquest while on a voyage that had departed from Galveston, Texas. Prokopeva sued Carnival and the Conquest in federal district court in Texas, asserting that she had been injured in the course of her employment and that Prokopeva’s injuries were due to Carnival’s negligence or the Conquest’s unseaworthiness. Carnival moved to compel arbitration pursuant to an arbitration clause in Prokopeva’s employment contract. The contract, called a Seafarer’s Agreement, contained an arbitration provision stating that except for wage disputes, any and all disputes arising out of the agreement had to be resolved by arbitration to be held in England, Monaco, Panama, or the Philippines, depending on the location of the employee’s home country. Those four potential nations were signatories to the Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards (the convention). The agreement also contained an acknowledgment in which Prokopeva and Carnival acknowledged that Prokopeva’s employment with Carnival was a commercial legal relationship between the parties. The agreement stated that Prokopeva accepted every term and condition of the agreement, including the arbitration provision, and that Carnival would not have employed Prokopeva if she had not agreed to the terms and conditions. The court analyzed the agreement and the convention in determining whether to compel arbitration.