Case Problem Analysis: Sources of Law

AOL, LLC$,$ mistakenly made public the personal information of six hundred fifty thousand of its members. The members filed a suit in California, alleging violations of federal law and California state law. The member agreement between AOL and its members included a provision declaring Virginia as the location of any court dispute. AOL asked the court to dismiss the suit on the basis of that "forum$-$selection" clause in its member agreement. Under a previous decision of the United States Supreme Court, a forum$-$selection clause is unenforceable $"$if enforcement would contravene a strong public policy of the forum in which suit is brought." California courts previously have held in other cases that clauses similar to the AOL clause contravene a strong public policy.

Apply It: Sources of Law

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In deciding whether to dismiss the suit, the court in California first should look to select answer sources of law, or sources that establish the law. Another resource for the court are the select answer passed by the United States

select answer $-$ and the state select answer

If the court cannot find any sources of law that establish or direct their decision to dismiss the suit, the court should then turn to select answer $-$ sources of law for guidance.

If the California court turns to prior court opinions to determine if it should dismiss the suit, it is looking for select answer $.$ The system of prior court opinions is called select answer.