British West Indies Guaranty Trust Co., Ltd. V. Banque Internationale A Luxembourg

In British West Indies Guaranty Trust Co., Ltd. V. Banque Internationale A Luxembourg, 172 A.D.2d 234, (1st Dep't 1991), the court upheld the forum-selection clause at issue, holding that the allegations that plaintiff Grace Sanchez Brownlow, the signatory to the contract, did not read the provision, or that it was not brought specifically to her attention are of no avail, since as a signatory to the contract, she is presumed to know the contents of the instrument she signed and to have assented to such terms. (567 N.Y.S.2d at 732.) If the series of computer screens at issue here is treated as the equivalent of a written contract on paper, the same principle would seem to apply. Refusal by the courts to treat the two as equivalent would threaten the viability of the internet as a medium of commerce. The Court does not doubt that the long series of screens with which Claimant was presented did, in fact, induce the "trance of lethargy and inattentiveness" that he describes, and would have the same effect on many others A contract of equivalent length printed on paper, however, could be expected to induce the same result. Nonetheless, "a signatory to [a] contract . . . is presumed to know the contents of the instrument she signed and to have assented to such terms." (Id.) The law does not treat prolixity as evidence of deception.