Taag Linhas Aereas De Angola v. Transamerica Airlines, Inc., Transamerica Corporation, H.K. Howard, William Maier, Joseph Murphy, Eric J. Korth

TAAG Linhas Aereas de Angola, a third-party beneficiary under an air-transport agreement, appeals from a grant of a motion to dismiss pursuant to a forum selection clause requiring actions arising out of the agreement to be brought in Switzerland. Claiming that defendants-appellees, Transamerica Airlines, Inc., its parent, Transamerica Corporation, and several of its officers, failed to pay commissions due under the agreement, TAAG brought suit in United States District Court. Defendants’ motion to dismiss was granted on the ground that, because of the forum selection clause, the district court lacked jurisdiction to hear the dispute. TAAG argues that enforcement of the forum selection clause is unreasonable under the circumstances of this action.

FACTS

TAAG is the national airline of Angola. In 1981 it merged with another airline, Consorcio Técnico de Aeronáutica (CTA), and assumed all of CTA’s assets and liabilities, including its rights under a 1977 air-transport agreement between Compañía de Diamantes de Angola (Diamantes), a privately-owned diamond-mining company, and Trans International Airlines, predecessor to Transamerica Airlines, Inc., a United States corporation with…