Tai Kien Industry Co., Ltd. v. M/V Hamburg

528 F.2d 835 TAI KIEN INDUSTRY CO., LTD., a corporation of the Republic of China, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. M/V HAMBURG, her engines, tackle, machinery, and equipment, etc., and Fairplay-Petersen & Alpers Seatowage, a West German corporation, Defendants-Appellees. No. 74--3340. United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit. Jan. 21, 1976. Walter S. Ferenz, Agana, Guam, for plaintiff-appellant. John J. Reilly of Haight, Gardner, Poor & Havens, New York City, for defendants-appellees. OPINION Before MERRILL, CHOY and KENNEDY, Circuit Judges. ANTHONY M. KENNEDY, Circuit Judge: 1 The SS Caribia broke loose from its tug, the M/V Hamburg, in a typhoon off the coast of Guam. The vessel stranded near the entrance of Apra Harbor in Guam then broke up and sank. The sole issue on this appeal concerns the effect of a forum selection clause in the towage contract between the owner of the Caribia, Tai Kien Industry, Co., a Taiwan corporation, and the owners and agents for the tug. 2 The towage contract was dated in Hamburg, Germany. It required the tug to tow the Caribia from New York to Taiwan (for scrapping) and provided that any dispute was to be 'referred to the Supreme Court of…