A. TOM HARB, HARB DESIGN GROUP, INC., A FLORIDA CORPORATION, AND HARBCO CONSTRUCTION, INC., A FLORIDA CORPORATION, APPELLANTS,
v.
COMMERCE REALTY GROUP, INC., A FLORIDA CORPORATION, AND COMMERCE LIMITED PARTNERSHIP # 9219-II, A DELAWARE LIMITED PARTNERSHIP, APPELLEES

Fla. 4th DCA | 2004-08-11
No. 4D03-4892
SHAHOOD, J, and EMAS, KEVIN M., Associate Judge, concur.
881 So. 2d 35 Florida District Court of Appeal, Fourth District (2004) Positive Treatment
Cited by 5 cases

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Holding

The court held that venue was improper in Broward County because the cause of action accrued where the plaintiffs suffered their injury, which was in Orange County.

Facts & Procedural History

Plaintiffs sued defendants in Broward County for professional malpractice and other claims arising from work on real estate in Orange County. Defendan…

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Topics
Professional Malpractice Tortious Interference With Contract Accrual Of Cause Of Action Venue

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Opinion of the Court
KLEIN, J.;

The trial court denied defendants’ motion to transfer'venue to Orange County, which'was grounded on the fact that all of the causes of actions arose out of work performed on real estate in Orange County. We reverse.

Plaintiff appellees, whose offices were in Broward County, owned, leased, or had options on commercial real estate in Orange County. Plaintiffs engaged defendants to design and construct improvements to the property, and that work went forward. As a result of defendants’ work on the property, the plaintiffs sued defendants in Broward County for professional malpractice, breach of fiduciary duty, fraud, and tortious interference with a contractual relationship.

Defendants moved to transfer venue to Orange County, arguing that the property involved was located in Orange County, that the cause of action accrued in Orange County, and that the defendants had not set foot in Broward County. The trial court denied the motion without explanation.

For claims such as these, the only county in which a plaintiff may bring an action, if the defendant does not reside in the county, is the county where the cause of action accrued, or the county where the property in litigation is located. § 47.011, Fla. Stat. (2003).

Plaintiffs assert that the cause of action accrued in Broward because defendants submitted false telephone calls, letters and faxes to Broward County. A similar argument was rejected in Price-waterhouseCoopers LLP v. Cedar Resources, Inc., 761 So. 2d 1131 (Fla. 2d DCA 1999). For purposes of venue, a tort accrues in the county where the plaintiff first suffers injury. Wincor v. Cedars HealthCare Group, 695 So. 2d 924 (Fla. 4th DCA 1997). In this case the injury was in Orange County, and the cause of action accordingly accrued there. There was thus no basis for venue in Broward County. Reversed.

SHAHOOD, J, and EMAS, KEVIN M., Associate Judge, concur.

Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus

Citator

Cited By

  • McDANIEL Reserve Realty Holdings, LLC v. B.S.E. Consultants, Inc., 39 So. 3d 504 (Fla. 4th DCA 2010)
    …y to make the defendant liable for the tort took place.” Tucker v. Fianson, 484 So. 2d 1370, 1371 (Fla. 3d DCA 1986). Stated another way, a tort accrues in the county where the plaintiff first suffers injury. See Harb v. Commerce Realty Group, Inc., 881 So. 2d 35, 36 (Fla. 4th DCA 2004); Wincor v. Cedars HealthCare Group, Ltd., 695 So. 2d 924, 925 (Fla. 4th DCA 1997). Thus, a cause of action for tortious conduct accrues at “the moment the wrong and the injury both accrue.” PricewaterhouseCoopers, 761 So. 2d…
  • Weinberg v. Weinberg, 936 So. 2d 707 (Fla. 4th DCA 2006)
    …acts first took effect, (citation omitted). Stated another way, a tort accrues where the plaintiff first suffers injury. Wincor v. Cedars HealthCare Group, Ltd., 695 So. 2d 924, 925 (Fla. 4th DCA 1997); see also Harb v. Commerce Realty Group, Inc., 881 So. 2d 35, 36 (Fla. 4th DCA 2004) (“For purposes of venue, a tort accrues in the county where the plaintiff first suffers injury.”). In this case, Palm Beach County was the situs of the trust and its assets, the trust was administered in Palm Beach County be…
  • R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. v. Frost (Fla. 5th DCA 2021)

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