Arbitration & Mediation

What Do Loan Guarantors and Environmental Activists Have in Common? No Personal Jurisdiction in Florida!

By Christopher B. Hopkins, Esq.

The First and Fourth Districts have handed down strong opinions this month on Florida personal jurisdiction, indicating that non-Floridians cannot be haled into court here if there sole minimum contacts involve (1) guaranteeing bank loans made here, (2) infrequent emails/phone calls into Florida, (3) schools having alumni groups in Florida, and (4) correspondence school/distance learning students in Florida.

In Ed Labry, Bill Benton and Kevin Adams v. Whitney National Bank, AB9G, LLC, Steven R. Bradley, Jon D. Laplante, and Brad Zeitlin, non-Florida guarantors of a defaulted Florida bank loan were not subject to personal jurisdiction since the guarantors lacked the sufficient minimum contacts with the state of Florida, despite it being a Florida contract.

In the companion cases of Diana Reiss, Ph.D. v. Ocean World, S.A. and The Trustees of Columbia University in New York City et al. v. Ocean World, S.A. Earth Island Institute, Emory University, et al., personal jurisdiction kept an environmental activist and a major university out of a Florida lawsuit over the sale of Japanese dolphins to a Dominican Republic amusement park.

In Reiss v. Ocean World, the appellant disputed personal jurisdiction because she was not a resident in Florida and did not do business in the State. The Plaintiffs tried to use emails and phone calls to people in Florida and involvement in Florida activist organizations as a basis for personal jurisdiction. The court held there was no tortious act which occurred within Florida; likewise, the communications into Florida were not tortious and therefore there was no jurisdiction.

In the second case, Columbia University v. Ocean World, the school objected to jurisdiction as well. The claim was that Columbia was subject to Florida jurisdiction because it owned property in Florida, had an alumni group in Florida, had "distance learning" students in Florida, and had filed lawsuits in Florida. Here too, the court held that the "minimum contacts" were not satisfied because the school's Florida actions were not connected to the plaintiff's cause of action.

For a refresher on the Florida Long Arm Statue (F.S. 48.193), in personam jurisdiction, and infamous cases like Venetian Salami, International Shoe, and Worldwide Volkswagen, feel free to take these three cases for a spin.

Full post as published by Florida Arbitration Law on May 14, 2009 (boomark / email).