DAVID H. DEMARCO, APPELLANT,
v.
CAYMAN OVERSEAS REINSURANCE ASSOCIATION, LTD., APPELLEE
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DeMarco, a former Florida resident and president of a Cayman Islands corporation, signed a guarantee in Florida for his company's reinsurance obligations. After moving away, he was served by substituted service under Florida's long-arm statute in a breach of guarantee suit. The court affirmed jurisdiction, holding that signing a contract in Florida created sufficient minimum contacts to sustain personal jurisdiction over the nonresident defendant.
The court affirmed the trial court's denial of DeMarco's motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction. The execution of a contractual guarantee in Florida by the appellant constituted sufficient minimum contacts with the forum state to sustain in personam jurisdiction under Florida's long-arm statute, and such exercise of jurisdiction does not violate due process or offend traditional notions of fair play and substantial justice.
[1] A person who is a resident of Florida and subsequently becomes a nonresident, or conceals their whereabouts, and accepts the privilege of operating a business in the stat…
[2] The acceptance of the privilege to operate, conduct, engage in, or carry on a business in Florida signifies an agreement that service of process on the Secretary of State…
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“due process requires only that in order to subject a defendant to a judgment in personam, if he be not present within the territory of the forum, he have certain minimum contacts with it such that the maintenance of the suit does not offend "traditional notions of fair play and substantial justice."”
Establishes the constitutional standard for personal jurisdiction over nonresidents, adopted from International Shoe Co. v. State of Washington.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceDeMarco was president and major stockholder of Snug Harbour, Ltd., a Cayman Islands corporation that entered into a reinsurance agreement with CORAL, …
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SHIVERS, Judge.
By this interlocutory appeal, appellant seeks review of the order of the trial court denying his motion to dismiss the cause of action on the ground that the court lacks jurisdiction over his person. The trial court determined that the appellant, the defendant below, was subject to substituted service of process under § 48.181(1), Florida Statutes. We agree and affirm.
The plaintiff below, Cayman Overseas Reinsurance Association, Ltd. (CORAL), a Cayman Islands corporation, entered into an agreement reinsuring certain risks with Snug Harbour, Ltd. (Snug Harbour), a Cayman Islands corporation of which the appellant was president and a major stockholder. Subsequently, a dispute arose between CORAL and Snug Harbour as to the payment of claims on these reinsured risks. To forestall a planned legal action against Snug Harbour, the appellant signed a guarantee agreeing to be personally liable for Snug Harbour’s obligations under the reinsurance agreement. The appellant was a resident of Florida at the time of signing this guarantee and the signing occurred in this state. Two years later, CORAL brought the suit below against the appellant in the Circuit Court for Duval County for breach of the contractual obligation of the guarantee. The appellant, no longer a Florida resident, was served by substituted service of process under the long-arm statute of our state pursuant to the provisions of § 48.181(1), Florida Statutes, as follows:
(1) The acceptance by any person or persons, individually, or associated together as a co-partnership or any other form or type of association, who are residents of any other state or country, and all foreign corporations, and any person who is a resident of the state and who subsequently becomes a nonresident of the state or conceals his whereabouts, of the privilege extended by law to nonresidents and others 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 and foreign corporations of the secretary of state of the state as their agent on whom all process in any action or proceeding against them, or any of them, arising out of any transaction or operation connected with or incidental to the business or business venture may be served. The acceptance of the privilege is signification of the agreement of the persons and foreign corporations that the process against them which is so served is of the same validity as if served personally on the persons or foreign corporations.
The Florida Supreme Court has held that each case presented under the long-arm statute must be resolved on the basis of the facts revealed by the record in the particular case. Wm. E. Strasser Con struction Corp. v. Linn, 97 So. 2d 458 (Fla. 1957).
This court has maintained the view that it is the public policy of Florida that its long-arm statute reach as far as the United States Constitution permits. Fisher v. Premiere Realty Company, Inc., 298 So. 2d 447 (Fla. 1st DCA 1974); Babson Bros. Co. v. Allison, 298 So. 2d 450 (Fla. 1st DCA 1974). The extent of that reach is defined in the principle set forth by the United States Supreme Court in International Shoe Co. v. State of Washington, 326 U.S. 310, 66 S.Ct. 154, 90 L.Ed. 95 (1945):
[D]ue process requires only that in order to subject a defendant to a judgment in personam, if he be not present within the territory of the forum, he have certain minimum contacts with it such that the maintenance of the suit does not offend “traditional notions of fair play and substantial justice.” (citation omitted).
Thus, construction of Florida’s long-arm statute is limited only by its terms and the due process requirement of minimum contacts with the forum.
In the instant case, the guarantee establishing the contractual obligation sued upon was executed by the appellant in this state. The single act of signing a contractual agreement within the forum state may constitute sufficient minimum contacts to sustain the exercise of in personam jurisdiction over a nonresident in subsequent suit for breach of the agreement. Fisher; Einhorn v. Home State Savings Association, 256 So. 2d 57 (Fla. 4th DCA 1971). Under the facts presented in the instant case, there is ample support for the trial court’s determination that the appellant had accepted the privilege of engaging in a business or business venture in this state so as to be subject to the exercise of Florida’s long-arm jurisdiction under § 48.-181(1). This exercise of jurisdiction does not, in our view, offend “traditional notions of fair play and substantial justice.” On the contrary it seems fair to require the appellant who executed a guarantee in Florida to return to this forum for adjudication of his obligation under that agreement. Accordingly, we affirm.
WENTWORTH, J., concurs.
NIMMONS, J., dissents with written opinion.
NIMMONS, Judge,
dissenting.
I cannot agree that the single act of DeMarco’s signing the subject agreement in Florida was sufficient to sustain the trial court’s exercise of in personam jurisdiction under Section 48.181(1), Florida Statutes, where performance of the agreement’s obligations was to occur in the Cayman Islands, home of the obligee, Coral. I would reverse.
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Nat'l Equip. Leasing, Inc. v. Watkins, 471 So. 2d 1369 (Fla. 5th DCA 1985)…nt to be made to a creditor in Florida did not constitute sufficient contacts with Florida to permit this state to exercise jurisdiction over the assignee under Florida’s long-arm statute. But cf. DeMarco v. Cayman Overseas Reinsurance Assoc., Ltd., 460 So. 2d 547 (Fla. 1st DCA 1984). . Minnesota courts have been particularly sensitive to the principles of comity, due process, and the golden rule. In Dent-Air, Inc. v. Beech Mountain Air Service, Inc., 332 N.W. 2d 904 (Minn.1983), cited in Mid-West Med. v. Kr…
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Suroor Bin Mohammed Al Nahyan v. First Inv. Corp., 700 So. 2d 139 (Fla. 5th DCA 1997)…jurisdiction which the trial court had obtained by consent in the initial action. Here, there is no claim that Sheikh Suroor ever consented to Florida’s jurisdiction over him personally. In DeMarco v. Cayman Overseas Reinsurance Association, Ltd., 460 So. 2d 547 (Fla. 1st DCA 1984), the first district determined that a guaranty agreement in which an individual agreed to guaranty an obligation of a corporation was sufficient to render the individual amenable to,the long arm jurisdiction under section 48.181.…
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Previewing 3 of 6 citing cases — full citator treatment, depth of discussion, and citing context are member features.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAuthorities Cited
- Int'l Shoe Co. v. State OF Wash., 326 U.S. 310 (U.S. 1945)
- WM. E. Strasser Constr. Corp. v. Linn, 97 So. 2d 458 (Fla. 1957)
- Babson Bros. Co. v. Allison, 298 So. 2d 450 (Fla. 1st DCA 1974)
- Fisher v. Premiere Realty Co., Inc., 298 So. 2d 447 (Fla. 1st DCA 1974)
- Einhorn v. Home State Sav. Ass'n, 256 So. 2d 57 (Fla. 4th DCA 1971)