SCS/SB 619 - This act creates the Civil Liberties Defense Act. This act mandates that any court, arbitration, tribunal, or administrative agency ruling shall be unenforceable if based on a foreign law that does not grant the parties the same rights as the parties have under the United States and Missouri constitutions. The act makes contract provisions that choose to apply a foreign law to contractual disputes or to have disputes settled in another country void and unenforceable in Missouri, if the foreign law would not grant the parties to the contract the same rights as the parties have under the United States and Missouri constitutions.
In some cases, a court may refuse to take jurisdiction over matters, where the court believes there is a more appropriate forum for the dispute. This act requires that the court hear the case in Missouri, if a state resident brings the case and if the court finds that not hearing the case in Missouri violates or would likely violate the rights of the person who brought the case.
The act does not apply to a business entity that subjects itself to a foreign law in a jurisdiction outside the United States nor does it affect the choice of law in an action involving a tort which occurred in a foreign country. Neither does this act apply to adoptions when the child is adopted under foreign law and migrates to the United States in accordance with federal law. The act does not authorize courts to adjudicate religious matters.
This act is similar to SB 308 (2011) and SB 676 (2012), and substantially similar to SS/SB 267.
JESSICA BAKER