§ 25-414.Choice of forum; jurisdiction; conditions.

Businesses and individuals sometimes agree in advance, in writing, that if a dispute arises between them, it will be litigated in a particular place. Section 25-414 addresses what happens when that place is Nebraska and the written agreement is the only basis offered for a Nebraska court’s jurisdiction over the case.

In that situation, a Nebraska court will hear the case if four conditions are met. The court must have power under Nebraska law to hear this type of action in the first place; Nebraska must be a reasonably convenient place to try it; the agreement naming Nebraska as the forum must not have been obtained through misrepresentation, duress, abuse of economic power, or other unconscionable means; and the defendant must have been properly served — personally or by law if within the state, or personally or by certified mail to the last-known address if outside the state.

The section carves out three situations it does not govern. It does not apply to cognovit clauses, which are provisions letting a creditor obtain judgment against a debtor without normal notice or a hearing. It does not apply to arbitration clauses, which route disputes to arbitration instead of court. And it does not apply to the appointment of an agent for service of process required by statute or court order, since that is a different jurisdictional mechanism entirely.