I-NET TECHNOLOGIES, INC., APPELLANT,
v.
ANDRE SALAZAR, APPELLEE

Fla. 4th DCA | 2011-08-17
No. 4D11-40
DAMOORGIAN and CIKLIN, JJ., concur.
82 So. 3d 1007 Florida District Court of Appeal, Fourth District (2011) Positive Treatment
Cited by 8 cases

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Synopsis

The appellate court reversed a trial court's denial of a motion to transfer venue, finding that the cause of action for breach of an employment contract accrued in Palm Beach County, not Broward County. This decision clarifies where venue is proper in employment contract disputes when payment is at issue.


Holding

Yes, the trial court erred in denying the motion to transfer venue. The cause of action for breach of an employment contract accrued in Palm Beach County, where the appellant failed to issue payment, making Broward County an improper venue.


Headnotes

[1] A cause of action for breach of contract accrues in the county where the breach occurred, which is where the failure of performance took place.

[2] In an employment contract dispute, the failure of performance occurs where the employer fails to issue payment of the employee's salary.

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Key Quotes

“A cause of action for breach of contract is said to have accrued in the county where the breach occurred. A breach is said to have occurred where failure of performance occurred.”

This quote establishes the legal principle for determining where a cause of action for breach of contract accrues.

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Facts & Procedural History

Appellee filed a breach of contract suit in Broward County, alleging appellant failed to pay wages. Appellee worked from home in Broward County, but a…

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Opinion of the Court
LEVINE, J.

LEVINE, J.

The issue presented is whether the trial court erred in denying appellant’s motion to transfer due to improper venue. We find that the trial court should have granted appellant’s motion to transfer for improper venue, and we reverse.

In the present case, appellee filed a single-count complaint for breach of contract, alleging that appellant failed to pay appellee for wages and compensation due and owing to appellee. Appellee alleged that he had an employment agreement with appellant. Appellee worked out of his home, which was located in Broward County; he did not perform any services in Palm Beach County. When appellant refused to pay his wages, appellee filed a complaint for breach of contract in Bro-ward County.

Appellant disputed the propriety of Bro-ward County as a venue. Appellant contends there was no employment contract and that appellant maintains an office only in Palm Beach County. Appellant submitted an affidavit which also stated that ap-pellee was allowed to work out of his home for appellee’s convenience alone. Appellant further stated that it conducted business only in Palm Beach County and that it never sent any correspondence to appel-lee in Broward County. The trial court denied appellant’s motion to dismiss or transfer venue. This appeal ensues.

The standard of review for the denial of a motion to transfer venue “is whether the trial court’s factual determinations are supported by substantial, competent evidence or are clearly erroneous. The trial court’s legal conclusions are reviewed de novo.” Vrchota Corp. v. Kelly, 42 So.3d 319, 321 (Fla. 4th DCA 2010). “A complaint is sufficient to allege venue, unless a defendant, by affidavit, challenges venue. Then, the burden shifts to the plaintiff to establish the propriety of the venue selected.” Id. In this case, appellant challenged appellee’s selection of Bro-ward County as the proper venue by filing an affidavit and shifting the burden back to appellee as to whether the venue was proper.

Section 47.051, Florida Statutes, provides that “[ajctions against domestic corporations shall be brought only in the county where such corporation has, or usually keeps, an office for transaction of its customary business, where the cause of action accrued, or where the property in litigation is located.” Here, there is no property in litigation, and appellant’s office is located in Palm Beach County. The only remaining reason venue could be established in Broward County is if the cause of action accrued in Broward County-

Appellant contends that the cause of action in this case accrued in Palm Beach County. Significantly, appellant points out that the failure to send payment to appellee took place in Palm Beach County. Palm Beach County is where appellant has its office, and where it generates payment to appellee for all work performed.

In Precision Software, Inc. v. Gauthier, 605 So.2d 592 (Fla. 2d DCA 1992), a for*1009mer employee filed a breach of an employment contract complaint in Hillsborough County, claiming monies owed for severance. The employee claimed that venue was proper in Hillsborough County because a debtor-creditor relationship existed between him and the employer, and in a debtor-creditor arrangement, venue is proper where the creditor resides. The employer argued that an employer-employee relationship is not a debtor-creditor relationship because the cause of action was for breach of contract, not a suit on a debt. The Second District determined that “[a] cause of action for breach of contract is said to have accrued in the county where the breach occurred. A breach is said to have occurred where failure of performance occurred.” Id. at 594 (citations omitted). In an employment contract dispute, the failure of performance occurs where the employer fails to issue payment of the employee’s salary. Id.

Similarly, in McCarroll v. Van Dyk, 8 So.3d 1256 (Fla. 4th DCA 2009), an employee who lived in Palm Beach County filed a complaint in Palm Beach County against a corporation, with its principal place of business in Broward County, for failure to pay the employee commission payments. The employee attempted to justify venue in Palm Beach County, by reliance on the “debtor-creditor venue rule, which provides that where payment of a debt is the performance called for by a contract, the residence of the payee is presumed to be the place of the required performance and thus where the cause of action accrues.” Id. at 1257. This court concluded that the employee “presented no contrary affidavits or record evidence” to dispute the employer’s sworn statements that the employee collected his salary in Broward County, making that county the place of required performance. Id. at 1258. Significantly, this court, relying on Gauthier, also concluded that “the debtor-creditor venue rule” was “inapplicable” since the cause of action arose “in an employment context.” Id.

Thus, under both McCarroll and Gauthier, the cause of action accrued in Palm Beach County, as appellant allegedly failed to issue payment for appellee’s services in that jurisdiction.1 Broward County is an improper venue for this action. Venue properly lies in Palm Beach County, so we reverse and remand with instructions for the trial court to transfer this action to the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit in and for Palm Beach County.

Reversed and remanded.

DAMOORGIAN and CIKLIN, JJ., concur.


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Citator

Cited By

  • Suncoast Home Improvements, Inc. v. Robichaud, 106 So. 3d 969 (Fla. 2d DCA 2013)
    …e of payment rule did not apply when the defendants did not promise to pay a specified sum of money and the plaintiff sought an accounting and declaration of the amount owed. 4 So. 3d at 38. The owners rely upon I-Net Technologies, Inc. v. Salazar, 82 So. 3d 1007, 1009, n. 1 (Fla. 4th DCA 2011), which dealt with an employment agreement for which the place of payment venue rule was inapplicable. There, the Fourth District noted that damages are unliquidated when the complaint fails to demand a specific amount…
  • …fendants’ motion to transfer venue. The order contains no factual findings. This appeal followed. Because the order on appeal contains no factual findings and stated only a legal conclusion, our review is de novo. See I-Net Techs., Inc. v. Salazar, 82 So. 3d 1007, 1008 (Fla. 4th DCA 2011) (“The standard of review for the denial of a motion to transfer venue is whether the trial court’s factual determinations are supported by substantial, competent evidence or are clearly erroneous. The trial court’s legal co…
  • Bedwell v. Rucks, 127 So. 3d 533 (Fla. 4th DCA 2012)
    …evidence that the alleged fraudulent transfers took place in either Miami-Dade or Broward County. This was sufficient to shift the burden back to Appellees to demonstrate that venue was proper in Okeechobee County. See I-Net Techs., Inc. v. Salazar, 82 So. 3d 1007, 1008 (Fla. 4th DCA 2011) (explaining that the filing of affidavits challenging venue shifts the burden to show proper venue back to the plaintiff). To rebut Appellants’ evidence establishing that the action accrued in either Miami-Dade or Broward C…

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