JOEL MALLIN, INDIVIDUALLY, APPELLANT,
v.
SUNSHINE KITCHENS, INC., A FLORIDA CORPORATION, APPELLEE

Fla. 3d DCA | 1975-05-27
No. 75-5
Before BARKDULL, C. J., and HEN-DRY, J., and CHARLES CARROLL (Ret.), Associate Judge.
314 So. 2d 203 Florida District Court of Appeal, Third District (1975) Positive Treatment
Cited by 3 cases

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Synopsis

A Florida appellate court reversed the trial court's denial of a motion to quash service of process where a defendant was lured to Florida under the pretense of good-faith settlement negotiations but was served with process during the settlement conference. The court held that such service obtained through fraud and artifice violates due process principles.


Holding

Service of process obtained through fraud and artifice is invalid and must be quashed. A party that requests another to demonstrate good faith by traveling to the jurisdiction for settlement purposes must itself show good faith by refraining from serving process before or during those negotiations.


Headnotes

[1] Service of process may be quashed when obtained by fraud, deceit, trickery, or artifice.

[2] A party who invites another into a jurisdiction for settlement discussions may not serve process on that party during the course of those discussions.

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Key Quotes

“If the appellee desired the appellant to show good faith in order to resolve their differences by journeying to Florida, then it should have shown good faith by not arranging to have process served on him before the settlement conference had even concluded.”

Establishes the core principle that a party cannot demand good faith from another while simultaneously deceiving that party into the jurisdiction for service of process.

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Facts & Procedural History

In summer 1974, Mallin and Sunshine Kitchens became involved in a controversy. Representatives of Sunshine Kitchens requested that Mallin travel to Fl…

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Opinion of the Court
PER CURIAM.

PER CURIAM.

Involved in this appeal is the validity of process served upon the appellant, who entered this jurisdiction for purposes of discussing a settlement.

The record indicates that the parties were involved in a controversy in the summer of 1974; that the appellant, along with other non-residents, agreed to meet with the representatives of the appellee in New York City. The agents of the appel-lee refused to this, but indicated it would be a sign of “good faith” if the appellant would journey to this State for the purpose of discussing settlement. This request for good faith to be shown on the part of the appellant was delivered to him on October IS, 1974 and later that week a conference was scheduled for the offices of the appel-lee corporation on Monday, October 21, 1974. Notwithstanding the fact that the conference to discuss settlement was scheduled, the appellee, as plaintiff, caused a law suit to be instituted against the appellant on October 18, 1974,1 and also caused a summons to be issued on that date, to be served on the appellant at the officers of the appellee. Thereafter, in accordance with their understanding, the appellant journeyed to Miami to attend the settlement conference; was met at the airport by representatives of the appellee, taken to their offices and, during the negotiation conference and before it had been concluded, the appellee caused process to be served upon the appellant. He thereupon moved to dismiss or quash the service, alleging among other things that it was occasioned by fraud and deceit or by trickery or artifice. We agree.2

The predicate for the appellant journeyed to Florida was to demonstrate good faith in the negotiations for settlement. If the appellee desired the appellant to show good faith in order to resolve their differences by journeying to Florida, then it should have shown good faith by not arranging to have process served on him before the settlement conference had even concluded. This is particularly true when, as is obvious from the record, after the representatives of the appellee had secured an undertaking by the appellant to come to this jurisdiction they then proceeded to file a complaint, caused process to issue, and arranged to have it served during the good faith settlement conference. Sconyer v. Scheper, Fla.App.1960, 119 So. 2d 408; Conklin v. Pruitt, Fla.App.1966, 182 So. 2d 644; Julian v. Julian, Fla.App.1966, 188 So. 2d 896; 72 C.J.S. Process § 39; 62 Am.Jur.2d Process, § 54; Anno. 98 ALR2d 551, § 5c, p. 576 and cases cited therein, particularly those cited on page 578.3

Therefore, the order under review be and the same is hereby reversed, with directions to grant the motion to quash the service obtained on the appellant on October 21, 1974.

Reversed and remanded, with directions.

. Prior to the arrangements being completed for the settlement conference, attorneys for the plaintiff had notified the appellant on September 20, 1974 that suit would be commenced by October 15, 1974 unless a meeting could be had to discuss the matter. . The matter was presented to the trial judge upon affidavits in support of the motion to quash and, therefore, this court is practically in the same posture as the trial judge in examining this matter in order to determine the validity of the service. See: Sconyer v. Scheper, Fla.App.1960, 119 So. 2d 408; Julian v. Julian, Fla.App.1966, 188 So. 2d 896.

.Also see: Sunshine Kitchens, Inc. v. Alanthus Corporation, D.C.S.D.Fla.1974, 65 F.R.D. 4, wherein a Federal District Judge quashed service of process in a Federal proceeding upon another participant who had journeyed into this State for the same conference.


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Citator

Cited By

  • Citrexsa, S.A. v. Landsman, 528 So. 2d 517 (Fla. 3d DCA 1988)
    …dant’s presence within the jurisdiction by means of criminal process, or by pretense of settlement, whether the matter of settlement was first broached by plaintiff or defendant. 72 C.J.S. Process § 47 (1987); see Mallin v. Sunshine Kitchens, Inc., 314 So. 2d 203 (Fla. 3d DCA 1975), cert. denied, 330 So. 2d 22 (Fla.1976). In the case before us, appellants arranged the conference in a good faith attempt to settle their dispute with appellees. They traveled to Florida in reliance on ap-pellees’ agreement to a…
  • Conax Fla. Corp. v. Astrium Ltd., 499 F. Supp. 2d 1287 (M.D. Fla. 2007)
    …participate in good faith settlement negoti *1292 ations, and that their agreement to participate in the settlement conference was merely an artifice to serve” the defendants. Id. at 518; see also Mallin v. Sunshine Kitchens, Inc., 314 So.2d 203 (Fla.App.1975), cert. denied, 330 So.2d 22 (Fla.1976). Emphasizing the plaintiffs filing of the lawsuit the day prior to the mediation, the defendant claims that service of process in this case should be quashed because, “like the plaintif…

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