MAC MILLAN-BLOEDEL, LTD., APPELLANT,
v.
FRANKLIN ERNIE CANADA AND FULLER LUMBER COMPANY, INC., APPELLEES
AI-generated. These summaries, headnotes, and key points are machine-generated and may contain errors or omissions. Always verify against the full opinion text below. Not legal advice.
Mac Millan-Bloedel, a Canadian lumber manufacturer, appeals a determination that Florida courts had personal jurisdiction over it in a product liability suit filed by a carpenter injured in 1972 by defective lumber. The court affirmed, finding jurisdiction under Florida's long-arm statute section 48.182 based on the defendant's manufacture of a defective product sold in international commerce that foreseeably caused injury in Florida.
Florida courts had personal jurisdiction over appellant under section 48.182. Although section 48.193 was not applicable because the injury occurred in 1972 before its July 1973 effective date, and section 48.181 was inapplicable because appellant did not control its subsidiary, section 48.182 authorized jurisdiction because appellant manufactured a defective product sold in international commerce that foreseeably caused injury in Florida and derived substantial revenues from international commerce.
[1] A nonresident who commits a wrongful act outside the state causing injury within the state may be subject to personal jurisdiction if the nonresident expects or should re…
[2] Florida's long-arm statute, section 48.193, applies only to causes of action that accrued after its effective date.
Previewing 2 of 4 headnotes on this case. FLexlaw’s editorially structured points of law — every proposition, pinpointed — are reserved for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“The record established that Mac Millan manufactured and sold a defective product (rotten lumber); the sale was in international commerce; injury to persons through the use of the product was foreseeable, in Florida or any other place the lumber was used; the lumber's defect caused the plaintiff's injury in Florida; and the appellant was shown, through unchallenged allegations in the complaint and through SEC reports and depositions, to have derived most of its revenues over the years from 'international' commerce.”
Establishes the court's application of section 48.182's requirements for jurisdiction over non-resident defendants in product liability cases
Previewing 1 of 3 key quotes on this case — the court’s exact language, pinpointed for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceMac Millan-Bloedel, Ltd., a non-resident Canadian corporation, manufactured lumber products and sold them internationally through its wholly-owned sub…
The full statement of facts, procedural history, and disposition for this case are member content.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence© FLexlaw, Inc. — AI-generated enrichments are proprietary. All rights reserved.
Explore caselaw by topic → Browse Stream Of Commerce cases and more on FLexlaw
SHARP, Judge.
Mac Millan-Bloedel, Ltd., a Canadian business organization, appeals the lower court’s determination that it had personal jurisdiction over Mac Millan pursuant to section 48.181, Florida Statutes (1979), or section 48.182, Florida Statutes (1973).1 The plaintiff, a carpenter, filed suit in 1977 for injuries he sustained when a2" X 10' joist or scaffold manufactured by Mac Mil-lan failed or gave way under him in 1972 because of its alleged “dry-rotted” condition. We affirm the lower court on the basis of section 48.182.
The pleadings and record at the time of the hearing on jurisdiction established that Mac Millan was a non-resident Canadian corporation, based in Canada, and that it engaged in extensive international commerce. It manufactured lumber products and shipped them throughout North America and abroad. Its wholly owned subsidiary, Mac Millan-Bloedel, Inc. (also a defendant in this case) did business in Florida, but the trial court concluded it was a separate entity from appellant, and it was not “controlled” by appellant. Mac Millan had no office or agents in Florida. The offending piece of lumber was sold by the appellant F.O.B. place of shipment outside Florida, to its subsidiary. The subsidiary took delivery of the lumber in Jacksonville and stored it in its warehouse. From there, the lumber passed into the stream of intrastate commerce where it ultimately (allegedly) caused the plaintiff’s injuries in Florida.
Section 48.193, Florida Statutes (1979), apparently gives the best basis for asserting personal jurisdiction over the appellant in this case. It provides:
(1) Any person .. . who personally or through an agent does any of the acts enumerated in this subsection thereby submits that person ... to the jurisdiction of the courts of this state for any cause of action arising from the doing of any of the following:
(f) Causes injury to persons or property within this state arising out of an act or omission outside of this state by the defendant, provided that at the time of injury either:
(3) Only causes of action arising from acts or omissions enumerated in this section may be asserted against a defendant in an action in which jurisdiction over him is based upon this section....
The appellant manufactured the allegedly defective lumber; its products were being used in Florida in the ordinary course of business; and the defective lumber allegedly caused the plaintiff’s injury in Florida. However, it is well established that section 48.193 applies only to causes of action which accrued after its effective date: July 1973.2 Since the plaintiff was injured in 1972, section 48.193 is not applicable.
Section 48.181 has no time application problems in this case, but it requires a finding that the non-resident party sought to be served was engaging in business in Florida, or was making intrastate sales directly in Florida or through jobbers it “controlled.” This statute provides:
(1) The acceptance by any person or persons . . . who are residents of any other state or country, ... of the privilege . . . to operate, conduct, engage in, or carry on a business or business venture in the state, or to have an office or agency in the state, constitutes an appointment by the persons ... of the secretary of state of the state as their agent on whom all process in any action ... arising out of any transaction or operation connected with or incidental to the business or business venture may be served. . . .
(3) Any person ... which sells ... by any means whatsoever tangible or intangible personal property, through brokers, jobbers, wholesalers or distributors to any person, firm or corporation in this state shall be conclusively presumed to be operating, conducting, engaging in or carrying on a business venture in this state.
Interstate or international sales to persons in Florida, no matter how numerous and ongoing, do not establish engaging in business or a business venture in Florida for purposes of section 48.181,3 unless the nonresident is shown to have “control” or to have exercised “control” over the person selling the goods in Florida.4 Mac Millan’s doing business through its Florida subsidiary is the sole element established in this record on that point. That is an insufficient basis to support a finding of “doing business” or “control” for purposes of section 48.181.5
We finally come to section 48.182, Florida Statutes (repealed 1973). It provided:
Any nonresident person ... who ... commits a wrongful act outside the state which causes injury, loss, or damage to persons or property within this state may be personally served in any action or proceeding against the nonresident arising from any such act.... If a nonresident expects or should reasonably expect the act to have consequences in this state or any state or nation and derives substantial revenue from interstate or international commerce ...
The record established that Mac Millan manufactured and sold a defective product (rotten lumber); the sale was in international commerce; injury to persons through the use of the product was foreseeable, in Florida or any other place the lumber was used; the lumber’s defect caused the plaintiff’s injury in Florida; and the appellant was shown, through unchallenged allegations in the complaint and through SEC reports and depositions, to have derived most of its revenues over the years from “international” commerce. Section 48.182 is applicable to give Florida personal jurisdiction over the appellant. Youngblood v. Citrus Association of N.Y. Cotton Exchange, Inc., 276 So. 2d 505 (Fla. 4th DCA 1973).
Although not raised by the parties to this appeal, the application of section 48.182 to this case may appear anomalous because this statute was repealed effective July 1973 and the suit was not filed until 1977. However this result is necessary to avoid creating a span of time between the effective dates of section 48.182 and section 48.-193, when no “Long-Arm” statute would be in effect. The Legislature repealed section 48.182 effective on the date section 48.193 took effect, obviously intending there would be no such “gap” period. However, judicial interpretation has limited section 48.193 to causes accruing after its effective date. Griffis v. J. C. Penney Company, Inc. To avoid this “gap” we conclude section 48.182 applies to all causes of action accruing while it was in effect.
COWART, J., concurs.
FRANK D. UPCHURCH, Jr., J., dissents with opinion.
. This interlocutory appeal was taken pursuant to Florida Rules of Appellate Procedure 9.130(a)(3)(C)(i).
. AB CTC v. Morejon, 324 So. 2d 625 (Fla.1975); Griffis v. J. C. Penney Co., Inc., 333 So. 2d 503 (Fla. 1st DCA 1976). See Gordon v. John Deere Co., 264 So. 2d 419 (Fla.1972).
. American Baseball Cap, Inc. v. Duzinski, 359 So. 2d 483 (Fla. 1st DCA 1978).
. Dinsmore v. Martin Blumenthal Associates, Inc., 314 So. 2d 561 (Fla.1975); Cooke-Waite Laboratories, Inc. v. Napier, 166 So. 2d 675 (Fla. 2d DCA 1964).
. Volkswagenwerk v. McCurdy, 340 So. 2d 544 (Fla. 1st DCA 1976).
FRANK D. UPCHURCH, Jr., Judge,
dissenting:
I respectfully dissent. The only connection appellant had with Florida was that it sold lumber to a company in Florida. It exercised no control over or recommendations as to the use of that lumber. Lumber, by its very nature, varies in quality and strength. This is recognized by the industry and lumber is graded according to quality. The lesser grades possess more defects. Many applications in construction do not require great structural strength and a piece that would not be suitable for the support of a load-bearing structure might be suitable for another function.
One of the elements which must be shown to bring a defendant within section 48.182, Florida Statutes, is that the defendant committed a wrongful act. Youngblood v. Citrus Assoc. of N.Y. Cotton Exch., Inc., 276 So. 2d 505 (Fla. 4th DCA 1973). The sale of lumber of an inferior grade is not a wrongful act absent a showing that it was misrepresented.
The utilization of inferior grades of lumber in proper applications should be encouraged in the interests of conservation and economy. To require a company to come to Florida to defend under the facts of this case seems to me an unreasonable and unrealistic extension of the “long-arm” concept. Therefore, I dissent.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By (13 total)
-
Qualley v. Int'l AIR Serv. Co., Ltd., 595 So. 2d 194 (Fla. 3d DCA 1992)…ll as section 48.-193, have held that the presence of a subsidiary corporation within Florida is not enough, without more, to subject a non-Florida parent corporation to long-arm jurisdiction within this state. See MacMillan-Bloedel, Ltd. v. Canada, 391 So. 2d 749 (Fla. 5th DCA 1980) (§ 48.181); see also Phillips v. Orange Co., 522 So. 2d 64 (Fla. 2d DCA) (§ 48.193), review denied, 531 So. 2d 1354 (Fla.1988); McLean Financial Corp. v. Winslow Loudermilk Corp., 509 So. 2d 1373 (Fla. 5th DCA 1987) (§ 48.193). T…
-
Harris Schwartzberg v. Knobloch, 98 So. 3d 173 (Fla. 2d DCA 2012)…iff may show that “the non-Florida parent company independently satisfies the test for jurisdiction under Florida’s long-arm statutes.” Qualley v. Int’l Air Serv. Co., 595 So. 2d 194, 196 (Fla. 3d DCA 1992) (citing MacMillan-Bloedel, Ltd. v. Canada, 391 So. 2d 749, 750 (Fla. 5th DCA 1980)). Second, the plaintiff may establish facts that justify piercing the corporate veil. See Salley, 2010 WL 5136211, at *4; House, 60 F. Supp. 2d at 608-13 (piercing the corporate veil of several upstream owners of a nursing h…
-
Hobbs v. DON Mealey Chevrolet, Inc., 642 So. 2d 1149 (Fla. 5th DCA 1994)…non-resident subsidiary or wholly-owned corporation. See Woods v. Jorgensen, 522 So. 2d 935, 936 (Fla. 1st DCA 1988); McLean Financial Corp. v. Winslow Loudermilk Corp., 509 So. 2d 1373, 1374 (Fla. 5th DCA 1987); Mac Millan-Bloedel, Ltd. v. Canada, 391 So. 2d 749, 751 (Fla. 5th DCA 1980). An exception arises where the nonresident corporation is merely the alter ego of the resident owner or parent, over whom [*1156] the court does have jurisdiction. See Qualley v. International Air Service Co., 595 So. 2d 194…
Previewing 3 of 13 citing cases — full citator treatment, depth of discussion, and citing context are member features.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAuthorities Cited
- Dinsmore v. Martin Blumenthal Assocs., Inc., 314 So. 2d 561 (Fla. 1975)
- AB CTC v. Morejon, 324 So. 2d 625 (Fla. 1975)
- Youngblood v. Citrus Assocs. OF the NEW York Cotton Exch., Inc., 276 So. 2d 505 (Fla. 4th DCA 1973)
- Abner Wynn Gordon v. The John Deere Co., 264 So. 2d 419 (Fla. 1972)
- Coleman v. State, 333 So. 2d 503 (Fla. 4th DCA 1976)
- Volkswagenwerk Atkiengelselischaft v. McCURDY, 340 So. 2d 544 (Fla. 1st DCA 1976)
- Cooke-Waite Labs., Inc. v. Napier, 166 So. 2d 675 (Fla. 2d DCA 1964)
- Am. Baseball CAP, Inc. v. Duzinski, 359 So. 2d 483 (Fla. 1st DCA 1978)
- Bd. OF Cnty. Comm'rs v. Rickli, 359 So. 2d 483 (Fla. 4th DCA 1978)