CHASE MANHATTAN INVESTMENT SERVICES, INC., APPELLANT,
v.
EDILBERTO J. MIRANDA, APPELLEE

Fla. 3d DCA | 1995-08-02
No. 95-1791
Before SCHWARTZ, C.J., and LEVY and GREEN, JJ.
658 So. 2d 181 Florida District Court of Appeal, Third District (1995) Positive Treatment
Cited by 6 cases

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Synopsis

Chase Manhattan Investment Services appeals a trial court order that refused to compel arbitration of certain tort claims brought by its former employee Miranda under a Form U-4 securities industry registration agreement. The court holds that conversion and invasion of privacy claims arising from an employer's investigation of the employee must be arbitrated because they directly relate to the employment relationship.


Holding

The court reversed the trial court's order, holding that conversion and invasion of privacy claims must be arbitrated because they directly arose out of and were inherently related to the employment relationship; the employer's allegedly wrongful investigative acts would not have occurred but for the employment relationship.


Headnotes

[1] Claims for conversion and invasion of privacy arising from an employer's investigation of an employee's conduct during employment are subject to arbitration under a Form…

[2] Federal and state law mandate a strong bias in favor of arbitration.

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Key Quotes

“however allegedly horrendous — Chase Manhattan's actions were directly related to, and indeed would not have occurred but for, its employer-employee relationship with Miranda. They therefore must be deemed to have "arisen out of that employment" so as to require their resolution by arbitration under the agreement.”

Establishes the core holding that torts occurring during an employment investigation are sufficiently related to employment to trigger the arbitration agreement.

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Facts & Procedural History

Chase Manhattan employed Miranda as an account executive. After a client sued both Chase Manhattan and Miranda for fraud, Chase Manhattan investigated…

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Opinion of the Court
SCHWARTZ, Chief Judge.

SCHWARTZ, Chief Judge.

This is an appeal, pursuant to Florida Rule of Appellate Procedure 9.130(a)(3)(C)(v), from that portion of an order which determined that certain aspects of the plaintiffs case were not subject to arbitration. We reverse.

The appellant, Chase Manhattan Investment Services, Inc., is a securities dealer-broker which employed the appellee, Miranda, as an account executive. They were both sued in California by a client of Miranda who claimed that Miranda had defrauded the client in the course of his employment with Chase Manhattan. As a result, Chase Manhattan embarked on an investigation of Miranda which involved, he alleged in the instant action, the commission of several intentional torts including- — insofar as is relevant here — those of conversion, by searching and taking possession of Miranda’s personal effects at his work station in the company offices, and invasion of privacy, by securing information as to his personal banking accounts in an attempt to learn whether he had improperly taken money from Chase or the client. In the order now before us, the trial judge held that the counts of the complaint for conversion and invasion of privacy did not “[arise] out of [his] employment” [e.s.] so as to require their arbitration under the Form U-4 he executed in connection with his registration with the National Association of Securities Dealers.1,2 We disagree.

Even without, but especially with, considering the strong bias in favor of arbitration mandated both by the applicable federal law, see Moses H. Cone Memorial Hosp. v. Mercury Constr. Corp., 460 U.S. 1, 103 S.Ct. 927, 74 L.Ed.2d 765 (1983), and by our own, see State Farm Fire & Casualty Co. v. Middleton, 648 So. 2d 1200 (Fla. 3d DCA 1995), it seems clear that — however allegedly horrendous- — Chase Manhattan’s actions were directly related to, and indeed would not have occurred but for, its employer-employee relationship with Miranda. They therefore must be deemed to have “arisen out of that employment” so as to require their resolution by arbitration under the agreement. See Nazon v. Shearson Lehman Bros., Inc., 832 F.Supp. 1540 (S.D.Fla.1993) (compelling arbitration before the NASD of former employee’s claims for invasion of privacy and intentional infliction of emotional distress, as well as state statutory claims under Florida Human Rights Act, based on Form U-4); Backus & Stratton, Inc. v. Mann, 639 So. 2d 35, 36 (Fla. 4th DCA 1994) (same as to former account executive’s state law claims of invasion of privacy, assault and battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress, defamation, conspiracy to defame and interference with business relationships based on Form U-4); Trumbetta v. Metropolitan Life Ins. Co., No. CIV.A.94-3275, 1994 WL 481152 (E.D.Pa. Sept. 1, 1994) (same as to employee’s claim against employer for denying him access to his personnel file); Smith Barney Shearson, Inc. v. Finstad, 888 S.W. 2d 111, 114 (Tex.Ct.App.1994) (same).

Accordingly, the order below, insofar as it denies arbitration on the specified counts, is reversed and the cause remanded with directions to stay the proceeding below pending arbitration of all the allegations of Miranda’s complaint.

Reversed and remanded with directions.

. In the Form U-4, formally the Uniform Application for Securities Industry Registration or Transfer, Miranda stated that:

I agree to arbitrate any dispute, claim, or controversy that may arise between me and my firm, or a customer, or any other person, that is required to be arbitrated under the rules, constitutions, or bylaws of the [NASD] ... as may be amended from time to time.... [e.s.]

Part I, Section 1, of the NASD Arbitration Code, in turn, requires arbitration of:

any dispute, claim, or controversy arising out of or in connection with the business of any member of the Association, or arising out of the employment or termination of employment of associated person(s) [such as Miranda] with any member [such as Chase Manhattan].... [e.s.]

. Quite inconsistently, it seems to us, Miranda conceded and the trial court held that other intentional torts alleged, such as defamation and interference with business relationships, were ar-bitrable.


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Citator

Cited By

  • Royal Caribbean Cruises, Ltd. v. Universal Emp. Agency, 664 So. 2d 1107 (Fla. 3d DCA 1995)
    …tract,” Sweet Dreams Unlimited v. Dial-A-Mattress Int’l, Ltd., 1 F. 3d 639, 642 (7th Cir.1993), and was both “directly related to, and ... would not have occurred but for” the relationship it established. Chase Manhattan Inv. Sens., Inc. v. Miranda, 658 So. 2d 181, 182 (Fla. 3d DCA 1995). Since all this is true, in turn, this action — even though it sounds entirely in tort and neither claims a breach of the con [*1109] tract nor involves its performance or interpretation — must be deemed to be one “arising ou…
  • Frank v. Purrelli, 698 So. 2d 618 (Fla. 2d DCA 1997)
    …ntionally, is “complete nonsense.” Lincoln Nat’l Health & Cos. Ins. Co. v. Brown, 782 F.Supp. 110, 112-13 (M.D.Ga.1992). Florida courts have recognized invasion of privacy to be an intentional tort. See Chase Manhattan Inv. Servs., Inc. v. Miranda, 658 So. 2d 181, 182 (Fla. 3d DCA 1995). The tort of invasion of privacy was first recognized in Florida in Cason v. Baskin, 155 Fla. 198, 20 So. 2d 243 (1944), and was subsequently found to include intrusion upon seclusion. See Agency for Health Care Admin, v. Ass…
  • Boone v. Etkin, 771 So. 2d 559 (Fla. 4th DCA 2000)
    …itrated under the rules, ... of the organization with which I register.” None of the cases cited by appellee are persuasive as all involved broadly-worded arbitration provisions. For example, in Chase Manhattan Investment Services, Inc. v. Miranda, 658 So. 2d 181, 182, (Fla. 3rd. DCA 1995), and Nazon v. Shearson Lehman Bros., Inc., 832 F.Supp. 1540 (S.D.Fla.1993), the arbitration clause was the same as in the Backus & Stratton case2. Appellee contends that since Boone’s factual allegations arise from and con…

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