Ex parte COWS USA, LLC, et al., [Ms. SC-2023-0454, Apr. 5, 2024] __ So. 3d __ (Ala. 2024). The Court (Mendheim, J.; Parker, C.J., and Shaw, Wise, Bryan, Sellers, Stewart, Mitchell, and Cook, JJ., concur) issues a writ mandamus directing the Mobile Circuit Court to dismiss from this action Defendants COWS USA, LLC (“COWS”), Trailpods Acceptance Corporation (“Trailpods”), Michael Frank, Ana Frank, and Leonard Rosenberg (“the COWS defendants”) pursuant to an outbound forum selection clause.
The Dealership Agreement at issue contained a mandatory outbound forum-selection clause providing that actions by either party be brought in Dade County, Florida. Respondents argued enforcement of the clause would be “seriously inconvenient,” because it would result in the dispute with the COWS defendants being litigated in Florida while this action would proceed in Mobile as to another defendant who was not a party to the Dealership Agreement. The Court rejects this argument, noting that any such inconvenience was created by respondents’ decision to commence the action in Mobile County, and that “the prospect of trying cases in Florida and Alabama is not ‘“so gravely difficult and inconvenient that [respondents] would effectively be deprived of [their] day in court.’” Ms. *19, quoting Ex parte Leasecomm, 866 So. 2d 58, 63 (Ala. 2003), some internal quotation marks omitted.