Eleventh Circuit Grants Miami Dolphins’ Motion to Compel Arbitration of Claim by Woman Injured by a Brawl Among Fans
The Miami Dolphins were battling the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2022 when another battle broke out in the stands. Cameron Engwiller, attending the game with her mother and her boyfriend, was injured in the melee. She sued, and the Dolphins moved to compel arbitration. A District Court denied the motion to compel, and at first glance, it looks like Ms. Engwiller has strong grounds to resist arbitration. She did not purchase the ticket, so she never agreed to terms. Her mother got the tickets through her employer, so at least with respect to this transaction, her mother did not agree to terms.
We’ve covered cases like this before. A Tennessee court enforced the Chicago Cubs’ terms of service against a fan injured during a game at the stadium of the Cubs’ Double-A affiliate. An Illinois court refused to do so in connection with an injury to a journalist incurred at Wrigley Field. The result was the same in a 2021 case involving a fan at Wrigley Field. It should come as no surprise that Florida is more like Tennessee than Illinois.
In Miami Dolphins, Ltd. v. Engwiller, Florida’s Third District Court of Appeals reversed the trial court’s denial of the Dolphins’ motion to compel arbitration. Ms. Engwiller’s mother registered on the Dolphins website in 2019. Five days before the Dolphins faced off against the Steelers, Ms. Engwiller’s mother accepted tickets from her employer by logging in to her account. When she did so, the Dolphins claim, she accepted their Terms of Use (ToU), because a hyperlink to the ToU was placed on the login page between where she would enter her user name and password and the sign-in button. The words “Terms of Use” were highlighted in aqua-colored boldface print. The Court held that to be adequate notice. As we recently reported, other courts have found such notice inadequate where it does not make clear that by signing in one is agreement to terms. Here’s what the page looked like when I visited it today. Perhaps Ms. Engwiller’s mother saw a different page; I do not have an account.
Some courts have held that clicking the continue bar on this website would not be a manifestation of agreement to terms. The warning is below the continue bar, and there is no box for the user to check to signify agreement to terms. Welcome to Florida.
The agency issue is an easier one. Ms. Engwiller’s mother may not have acted as her agent in procuring the tickets for Ms. Engwiller, but she certainly did so when Ms. Engwiller allowed her mother to present the ticket on her behalf so that Ms. Engwiller could enter the stadium. Almost as an afterthought, the Court adds that all entrants to the stadium agree to the Dolphins’ ToU and thus to arbitration. The Dolphins changed their position, allowing guests to attend games on the understanding that the entrants agree to be bound to the Dolphins’ terms. That is an astonishingly sweeping conclusion to reach on the basis of a short paragraph that cites no law. Welcome to the United States of America.
The trial court’s ruling was reversed, and the case was remanded with instruction to compel arbitration and stay the case.