New Jones Act Case from 11th Circuit - Harrisson v. NCL - Appeals From Remand Orders

OK, now that Thanksgiving is out of the way, I have a queue of cases to get out to my loyal followers.

First up, a Jones Act case from the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, Harrisson v. NCL (Bahamas) Ltd., original opinion can be found here.  The case is REALLY about federal appellate court jurisdiction, so if you are only interested in substantive Jones Act cases, this isn't the post for you.

The claimant brought a Jones Act suit for negligence and for maintenance and cure in state court.  NCL removed the matter to federal court and sought an order to enforce an arbitration provision in the claimant's employment contract.  The district court found the arbitration provision to be void for violating public policy and remanded the matter to state court.

NCL appealed.  Typically, federal appeals courts do not have jurisdiction to hear appeals from orders remanding cases to state court.  28 U.S.C. 1447 (d). There are two exceptions:  1) where the remand order is based on grounds other than jurisdiction or a defect in the removal procedure or 2) where there are orders that lead to, but are separate from, remand orders that have conclusive effect on the state court proceeding.

The Eleventh Circuit found that neither exception to the statutory bar existed and dismissed the appeal.

Judge Hall dissented and found this was not a remand order only, but that it was an order denying a motion to compel arbitration which would be appealable under the Federal Arbitration Act, 9 U.S.C. 16(a)(1)(C).  Under Eleventh Circuit precedent, Lindo v. NCL (Bahamas) Ltd., 652 F.2d 1257 (11th Cir. 2011), see my post here,  these arbitration provisions in employment agreements are enforceable.

Stay tuned to this one.  The Federal Arbitration Act and the cases interpreting it have the potent effect of closing the federal courts to a wide range of claims that arise under written agreements to arbitrate.  If a litigant can bring a claim in state court, if the arbitration provision is found to be a violation of public policy and the matter remanded to state court, it could circumvent the overarching federal policy in favor or arbitration.  Most courts tend to institutionally favor arbitration, with correlative impacts on the number of jury trials conducted.