In a message dated 4/28/01 4:47:26 AM, rfornoat_private writes: << This agreement is governed by the laws of the State of Washington, U.S.A. You hereby irrevocably consent to the exclusive jurisdiction and venue of courts in King County, Washington, U.S.A. in all disputes arising out of or relating to the use of the Passport Web Site or service. Use of the Passport Web Site and service is unauthorized in any jurisdiction that does not give effect to all provisions of these terms and conditions, including without limitation this paragraph. >> This sort of paragraph is found in nearly every commercial contract in this country. As a lawyer for 21 years, I cannot remember ever seeing a contract or promissory note without a limitation on forum and choice of law. Certainly this usually done to avoid the "forum non-convenies" situation for the writer of the contract, but it also helps any court in knowing what law to apply. In all of our corporate contracts we set the forum in Illinois and either designate Illinois or Delaware law as the controlling law. We do this even though we are located in Wisconsin. The reason is that DE corporate law has 200 years of settled precedence and is generally favorable to corporate management. As a member of the Washington State Bar with some familiarity with Washington law, it is what is known as a model act state and the laws are among the most widely adopted in the 50 states. While I'd like to join in the Microsoft bashing, this shot is off the mark. John Ellingson CEO e-dentification, Inc. ISN is hosted by SecurityFocus.com --- To unsubscribe email LISTSERVat_private with a message body of "SIGNOFF ISN".
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Sun Apr 29 2001 - 22:42:28 PDT