Puliyurumpil Mathew Thomas appeals the district court?s Order granting Carnival Corporation?s Motion to Compel Arbitration and the Order denying his Motion to Remand this case to state court. Thomas originally brought suit against Carnival, his former employer which operated cruise lines in Florida waters, in Florida state court for damages arising from injuries he sustained in a slip-and-fall onboard a Carnival ship. He sued for negligence under the Jones Act (Count I),1 unseaworthiness of the ship and failure to provide prompt and adequate maintenance and cure under general maritime law of the United 2 States (Counts II and III), and failure to pay wages under the Seaman?s Wage Act (Count IV).3 Relying on the arbitration clause of its most recent Seafarer?s Agreement with Thomas in conjunction with the Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards (the ?Convention?), Carnival filed to remove the suit to federal court and have the district court compel the parties to arbitrate. The district court granted these motions, finding that the Convention applied and that the arbitration provision of the Seafarer's Agreement was enforceable.<br><br>Thomas appeals this decision and argues that it should be reversed on several grounds. First, Thomas argues that the Convention does not apply in this case because two of its four jurisdictional prerequisites have not been met. Specifically, he argues that the requirement that any agreement to arbitrate must be in writing was not met because the governing Seafarer?s Agreement at the time of his injuries did not contain an arbitration clause. As to the Convention?s provision that it only applies to commercial contracts, he argues that seamen employment contracts are not considered commercial contracts.<br><br>Alternatively, Thomas notes that even if all of the jurisdictional requirements are met, the Convention provides that courts need not enforce an arbitration clause when to do so ?would be contrary to the public policy of that country.? Thomas invokes this affirmative defense, arguing that forcing him to arbitrate in a forum that would apply non-U.S. law constitutes a prospective waiver of his U.S. statutory rights and, thus, the Arbitration Clause violates U.S. public policy.<br><br>Finally, Thomas argues that his statutory claims (based on the Seaman?s Wage Act and Jones Act) are outside the scope of the Convention. He asserts that both statutes are at odds with the Convention and, as more recently passed and amended statutes, they supersede all prior inconsistent treaties including the Convention.<br><br>BACKGROUND<br><br>Thomas was employed by Carnival as a head waiter on one of its cruise ships, the Imagination, which flew a Panamanian flag of convenience.4 On November 8, 2004, Thomas slipped and fell on a wet substance in the dining room, dropping a coffeepot. He injured his spine and right shoulder and burned his leg. The Seafarer?s Agreement in eff
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