This is a term of exclusion
Nelson 9 (Dorothy W., Circuit Judge – Ninth Circuit of the United States Court of Appeals, “Doe 1, Doe 2, and Kasadore Ramkissoon, on Behalf of Themselves and All Others Similarly Situated, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. AOL LLC, Defendant-Appellee”, 552 F.3d 1077; 2009 U.S. App. LEXIS 875, 1-16, Lexis)
OVERVIEW: The ISP made publicly available the internet search records of more than 650,000 of its members. Under a service agreement, all customers agreed to a forum selection clause that designated the "courts of Virginia" as the fora for disputes between the ISP and its customers. The ISP contended, and the district court agreed, that the clause permitted plaintiffs to refile their consumer class action in state or federal court in Virginia, but the customers contended the forum selection clause limited them to Virginia state court, where a class action remedy was unavailable; this violated California public policy favoring consumer class actions and rendered the forum selection clause unenforceable. The court held that the use of the preposition "of"--rather than "in"--was determinative and that the forum selection clause referred to the state courts of Virginia only, not the federal courts in Virginia. California had declared by judicial decision the same forum selection clause contravened a strong public policy of California--as applied to California residents who brought claims under California statutory consumer law in California state court.