Courts And Justice
Eleventh Circuit sends Pipistrel venue fight back
That means judges must look to the deal’s governing law before deciding whether a forum-selection clause reaches people who never signed it. The ruling reversed a venue dismissal in a Pipistrel aircraft dispute.
The Eleventh Circuit said a forum-selection clause is just another contract term, not a special federal rule. In a Pipistrel-related dispute, that changed the venue analysis and sent the case back.
- The Eleventh Circuit tied forum clauses to the contract’s governing law.
- A venue dismissal in a Pipistrel-related dispute was reversed.
- The ruling could affect where interstate business cases are heard.
- Contract drafters may need to think harder about governing-law clauses.
- For companies locked in interstate deals, the courthouse can be as important as the contract itself
For companies locked in interstate deals, the courthouse can be as important as the contract itself. In the federal Eleventh Circuit, judges said a forum-selection clause, the part of a contract that chooses where disputes will be heard, has to be read under the law that governs the contract.
That matters because venue can shape cost, leverage and the pace of a case. The panel said the lower court used the wrong legal standard when it dismissed the dispute on venue grounds, and that mistake required reversal.
The clause is part of the deal
The court’s point was simple: a forum-selection clause is not a special federal carve-out. It is just another contract term, so judges must interpret it the same way they would any other provision, under the contract’s governing law.
That can change the answer when parties from different states, or different countries, write the same clause but expect different legal rules to control its reach.
A breakup that changed the map
The lawsuit grew out of business relationships tied to Pipistrel aircraft. Declan Flight signed in 2020 to serve as chief sales representative in the United States for one Pipistrel subsidiary, while Right Rudder Aviation became the exclusive U.S. distributor for another.
Then Textron bought Pipistrel in 2022 and, within a year, cut off those relationships. The panel did not decide who wins the underlying claims. It only said the court below had to use the contract’s governing law when deciding where the case belonged.
Why companies will notice
For drafters and litigators, the ruling gives a cleaner rule to argue over. If a forum clause sits inside a contract, the Eleventh Circuit said, the meaning of that clause starts with the contract law the parties picked, not a separate federal shortcut.