NCLH Wants Vaccine Passport Case In South Florida, Accused CDC of Forum Shopping

Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings and Florida are currently having a legal battle. The cruise line wants to challenge Florida’s law that banned vaccine passports. However, things are becoming tricky. Norwegian wants the vaccine passport case to be moved to South Florida while Florida wants it elsewhere.

Miami-based US District Judge Kathleen Williams will hear the arguments from Norwegian on Friday. If Norwegian’s team of lawyers are successful, this could grant a preliminary injunction against Florida’s vaccine passport ban.

Moving the Vaccine Passport Case

Governor Ron DeSantis filed a motion last month to move the vaccine passport case in the Middle District of Florida. This is the same jurisdiction where US District Judge Steven Merryday ruled in favor of Florida against the Centers for Disease Control Prevention.

Florida filed a lawsuit against the CDC for its conditional sailing order. According to Florida, the CDC overstepped its authority by implementing the conditional sailing order.

Norwegian said that they’ve “attested” to comply with the health agency’s vaccination threshold requirement. But with a vaccine passport ban in place, Norwegian argues that this isn’t going to be possible.

Under the conditional sailing order, 95% of passengers and crew members should complete their COVID vaccine doses. In addition to this, if the cruise line can’t meet the vaccination threshold, they will need to run a simulated voyage. Unfortunately, simulated voyages will make use of volunteer passengers.

Forum Shopping Allegation

In a document submitted by Norwegian’s legal team, “It is obvious that Miami is the appropriate forum to adjudicate the legal violations and injuries this defendant is perpetrating upon NCLH’s vessels and operations based in Miami”. It also added that “Indeed, even if this case had been filed elsewhere, the grounds for transferring to Miami would be unanswerable”.

The cruise line’s attorneys even suggested that Florida had been “forum shopping”. Norwegian attorneys suggest that Florida is trying to find a favorable court, therefore choosing the same court where they were successful against CDC.

The NCLH attorneys said that “Florida’s decision to sue CDC in the Middle District is strongly suggestive (to say the least) of cynical forum shopping”.

Judge Merryday issued a preliminary injunction against the restriction imposed by CDC. The judge agreed that the CDC overstepped its legal authority. The CDC now challenged the injunction at the 11^th US Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta.