4TH DIMENSION INTERIORS, INC., A FLORIDA CORPORATION, APPELLANT,
v.
DECORATOR SERVICES LTD., A FREEPORT CORPORATION, ET AL., APPELLEES
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4th Dimension Interiors appealed the trial court's order quashing substituted service on two non-resident defendants in a third-party complaint. The appellate court reversed, finding that the defendants had sufficient minimum contacts with Florida through extensive furniture purchases and business activities to support substituted service jurisdiction.
The court reversed the trial court's order quashing substituted service, holding that the defendants had sufficient minimum contacts with Florida to authorize substituted service. The extensive furniture purchases in Florida, personal participation by the corporate president in the purchasing process, and solicitation activities for Florida residents constituted adequate doing business in the state.
[1] Substituted service under Florida Statutes § 48.161 is permissible against a non-resident defendant who has engaged in a business venture within the state.
[2] A non-resident defendant engages in a business venture in Florida for purposes of substituted service when they actively participate in the selection and purchase of good…
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“It was sufficiently disclosed that the Bahamian corporation was the actual purchaser of the merchandise, and that the third party plaintiff was acting on behalf of the Bahamian corporation in the acquisition thereof.”
Establishes that the court found sufficient business nexus through the defendant corporation's active purchasing activities in Florida
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence4th Dimension Interiors (Florida corporation) filed a third-party complaint against Exchange Group Bahamas Ltd. (Bahamian corporation), Tiffany Furnit…
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This is an interlocutory appeal from an order quashing substituted service made upon certain defendants, for want of jurisdiction over the person.
Decorator Services Ltd., a Bahamian corporation, filed an action against 4th Dimension Interiors, Inc., a Florida corporation, seeking recovery of $2,494 alleged to be due and payable on a certain account. The defendant answered, and with leave of court filed a third party complaint against Exchange Group Bahamas Ltd., a Bahamian corporation, Tiffany Furniture Industries, Inc., a Florida corporation, and Robert Bluck, a non-resident, who was the president of Exchange Group Bahamas Ltd. Personal service was obtained on the Florida corporation. Substituted service was made on the two non-resident defendants to the third party complaint, as provided for under § 48.161 Fla.Stat., F.S.A., on the ground of their having availed themselves of the privilege “to operate, conduct, engage in, or carry on a business or business venture” in this state. § 48.181 Fla.Stat., F.S.A. Said non-residents moved to quash the service. The motion was granted, and this appeal followed.
In the order entered by the trial court it was found and recited that the third party plaintiff’s president (Morrison) met *572m the Bahamas with Bluck and there “discussed his, Morrison, obtaining certain furniture for the third party defendant Exchange Group Bahamas Ltd.” The order further recited:
“That the Third Party Defendant, Robert Bluck, met with the president of the Third Party Plaintiff in Miami on December 22, 1969, at which time the two individuals went to various suppliers where the Third Party Defendant, Robert Bluck, selected certain items of personalty to be shipped to the Bahamas for use in the apartment building owned in the Bahamas by the Third Party Defendant, Exchange Group Bahamas Ltd.
“That after making these visits, the two individuals returned to the International Airport Hotel where the Third Party Defendant, Robert Bluck, executed those documents marked Third Party Plaintiffs Cumulative Exhibit A.”1
As a ground for granting the motion to quash substituted service, the order of the trial court stated:
‘ That there was not the required minimal contact in the State of Florida by the Third Party Defendant, Exchange Group Bahamas Ltd., and Robert Bluck, to authorize the use of substituted service in that neither of the Third Party Defendants were engaged in a business venture within the State of Florida.”
We are unable to agree with that conclusion of the trial court. It was sufficiently disclosed that the Bahamian corporation was the actual purchaser of the merchandise, and that the third party plaintiff was acting on behalf of the Bahamian corporation in the acquisition thereof. The Bahamian corporation supplied the money to pay for the purchases, the money was delivered to the sellers by the third party plaintiff and thereupon the merchandise was shipped to the Bahamian corporation in Freeport. As previously noted, the Bahamian corporation, through its president, Bluck, actively participated in the purchases in Dade County. Bearing on the question of doing business in Florida, in addition to the making of those extensive purchases here, there was evidence confirming the allegation of the amended third party complaint that the Bahamian corporation had engaged in the practice of soliciting tenants for its Freeport apartments through the use of local agents and by distribution of brochures in Florida.
By the amended third party complaint, 4th Dimension was seeking to recover $3,140.91 alleged to be its agreed compensation for such services. The substituted service, in the circumstances disclosed, was proper under the statutory and decision law relating to the subject. See Lake v. Lucayan Beach Hotel Co., Fla.App.1965, 172 So.2d 260; Bradbery v. Frank L. Savage, Inc., Fla.App.1966, 190 So.2d 183; DeVaney v. Rumsch, Fla.1969, 228 So.2d 904.
For the reasons assigned, the order quashing service is reversed.
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Frank Hrubetz & Co., Inc. v. Sens, 301 So. 2d 116 (Fla. 2d DCA 1974)…PER CURIAM. Affirmed. See Fourth Dimension Interiors, Inc. v. Decorator Services Ltd., Fla. App.3d 1972, 256 So. 2d 571; Martin Blumenthal Associates, Inc. v. Dinsmore, Fla.App.3d 1974, 289 So. 2d 481. HOBSON, Acting C. J., BOARDMAN, J., and SCHWARTZ, ALAN R., Associate Judge, concur.…
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Myron L. Radlin v. Aero Sys., Inc., 340 So. 2d 1260 (Fla. 3d DCA 1976)…rder under review should be affirmed on the authority of McCarthy v. Little River Bank and Trust Company, 224 So. 2d 338 (Fla. 3rd D.C.A. 1969); DeVaney v. Rumsch, 228 So. 2d 904 (Fla.1969); 4th Dimension Interiors, Inc. v. Decorator Services, Ltd., 256 So. 2d 571 (Fla. 3rd D.C.A. 1972); Elmex Corporation v. Atlantic Federal Savings & Loan Association of Fort Lauderdale, 325 So. 2d 58 (Fla. 4th D.C.A. 1976). Affirmed.…
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4TH Dimension Interiors, Inc. v. Tiffany Furniture Indus., Inc., 273 So. 2d 127 (Fla. 3d DCA 1973)…arty defendants moved to quash the service on the original third party complaint. The motion was granted but upon interlocutory appeal was reversed by this court on January 18, 1972. 4th Dimension Interiors, Inc. v. Decorator Services, Fla.App.1972, 256 So. 2d 571. It was not until April 5, 1972, that appellee moved to dismiss appellant’s amended third party complaint with prejudice due to its untimely filing. Thus appellee’s motion to dismiss came approximately ten months after the complaint to which it was…
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAuthorities Cited
- DeVANEY v. Bernard J. Rumsch, M.D., 228 So. 2d 904 (Fla. 1969)
- State v. Strickland, 172 So. 2d 260 (Fla. 2d DCA 1965)
- Bradbery v. Frank L. Savage, Inc., 190 So. 2d 183 (Fla. 4th DCA 1966)