HOLIDAY INNS, INC., A TENNESSEE CORPORATION, AND SOUTH CAROLINA INTERSTATE MOTEL ENTERPRISES, INC., A SOUTH CAROLINA CORPORATION, APPELLANTS,
v.
JERRY M. JAMISON, APPELLEE
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A Florida appellate court reversed the denial of a motion to dismiss in a personal injury case, holding that a South Carolina motel corporation's advertising and solicitation activities in Florida were insufficient to establish personal jurisdiction under Florida's long-arm statute when the injury occurred at the defendant's motel in South Carolina, with no nexus between the injury and the defendant's Florida business activities.
The court held that the complaint was legally insufficient to establish personal jurisdiction. While the court expressed doubt about whether Enterprises' advertising and solicitation activities in Florida constituted doing business in the state, it definitively concluded that the complaint failed to allege that Jamison's injury and damages arose out of a transaction or operation connected with Enterprises' alleged Florida business activities, as required by the long-arm statute.
[1] A complaint is insufficient to support personal jurisdiction over a non-resident defendant under Florida's long-arm statute when it fails to allege that the cause of acti…
[2] Advertising and solicitation activities alone may be insufficient to establish that a non-resident corporation operates, conducts, engages in, or carries on a business or…
Previewing 2 of 4 headnotes on this case. FLexlaw’s editorially structured points of law — every proposition, pinpointed — are reserved for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“A motion to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction over the person of the defendant admits all facts properly pleaded pertinent to the conduct and the activities of the defendant in the forum state. But, it constitutes an assertion that as a matter of law such facts are legally insufficient to demonstrate the applicability of the long-arm statute.”
Establishes the legal standard for reviewing a motion to dismiss based on personal jurisdiction
Previewing 1 of 3 key quotes on this case — the court’s exact language, pinpointed for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceJamison, a Florida resident, was injured in a slip-and-fall accident at a Holiday Inn motel in Florence, South Carolina, owned and operated by Enterpr…
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MILLS, Judge.
This is an interlocutory appeal from an order denying defendant Enterprises’ amended motion to dismiss plaintiff Jami-son’s complaint. By his complaint, Jamison, a Florida resident, sought damages from Enterprises, a South Carolina corporation, for personal injuries he sustained at Enterprises’ motel in South Carolina. Service of process on Enterprises was made under Section 48.181(1), Florida Statutes (1975). This section provides that a nonresident corporation who operates, conducts, engages in or carries on a business or business venture in this state constitutes the secretary of state as its agent for service of process in any action against it arising out of any transaction or operation connected with or incidental to the business or business venture. By its amended motion to dismiss, Enterprises challenged the sufficiency of the allegations of the complaint to support service of process on it under Section 48.181(1).
The pertinent allegations of the complaint are:
1. Enterprises is a South Carolina corporation doing business in Florida;
2. Enterprises is a franchisee of Inns, a Tennessee corporation;
3. Enterprises has participated in a program of advertising its facilities throughout Florida and has distributed or caused to be distributed from numerous locations within Florida, directories advertising its facilities located in Florence, South Carolina;
4. Enterprises has directly solicited residents of Florida to do business with it and has advertised or caused to be advertised through Inns, its willingness to accept reservations at numerous locations maintained by Inns, and has furnished residents of Florida confirmation of such reservations from such locations within Florida; and
5. Jamison, a Florida resident, while traveling through South Carolina, registered at the Florence, South Carolina, Holiday Inn, owned and operated by Enterprises. While entering the motel, Jamison slipped and fell, suffering injuries and damages.
A motion to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction over the person of the defendant admits all facts properly pleaded pertinent to the conduct and the activities of the defendant in the forum state. But, it constitutes an assertion that as a matter of law such facts are legally insufficient to demonstrate the applicability of the long-arm statute. Elmex Corp. v. Atlantic Federal Savings and Loan Association, 325 So. 2d 58 (Fla. 4th DCA 1976).
Where process is served under Section 48.181(1), a complaint which fails to allege that a cause of action arises out of a transaction or operation connected with or incidental to the defendant’s doing business or conducting a business venture within this state is insufficient and does not support personal jurisdiction over a non-resident defendant. O’Connell v. Loach, 194 So. 2d 700 (Fla. 2d DCA 1967).
We doubt that the allegations regarding the advertising and solicitation activities of Enterprises are sufficient to show that it carries on a business or business venture in this state. See Reader’s Digest Ass’n v. State ex rel. Conner, 251 So. 2d 552 (Fla. 1st DCA 1971). But we have no doubt that the complaint is totally deficient in alleging that Jamison’s injury and damages arose out of a transaction or operation connected with Enterprises’ alleged doing business within our state. There is no allegation that Jamison’s slip, fall and injury in Enterprises’ motel in Florence, South Carolina, had any connection whatsoever with Enterprises’ alleged advertising and solicitation activities in Florida. The trial court erred in denying Enterprises’ motion to dismiss Jamison’s complaint.
The contention of Inns that the trial court erred in denying its oral motion to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction over its person is without merit and does not warrant further discussion by us.
We reverse the trial court’s order denying Enterprises’ amended motion to dismiss and remand with directions to vacate the order and to enter an order granting the amended motion. We affirm the oral order of the trial court denying Inns’ oral motion to dismiss.
McCORD, C. J., concurs.
BOYER, J., specially concurs.
BOYER, Judge,
concurring specially.
I concur in the majority opinion. However, as we stated in American Baseball Cap, Inc. v. Duzinski, 308 So. 2d 639 (Fla.App. 1st 1975), in my view appellee Jamison should be afforded a further opportunity to plead and seek service on Enterprises.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By
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Pelycado Onroerend Goed B.V. v. Ruthenberg, 635 So. 2d 1001 (Fla. 5th DCA 1994)…d alleged that appellants do business in the State of Florida in the response to the motion to quash. Ruthenberg never alleged that the cause of action arose out of the appellants’ business activities within the state. Holiday Inns, Inc. v. Jamison, 353 So. 2d 1269, 1270 (Fla. 1st DCA 1978). Failure to make this allegation means that the appellants are not amenable to substituted service of process under section 48.181. Orange Motors of Coral Gables, Inc. v. Rueben H. Donnelly Corp., 415 So. 2d 892, 893 (Fla.…
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Am. Baseball CAP, Inc. v. Duzinski, 359 So. 2d 483 (Fla. 1st DCA 1978)…ransaction or operation connected with or incidental to the activities of the nonresident in the state of Florida. See American Baseball Cap, Inc. v. Duzinski, supra, and the numerous cases therein cited; Holiday Inns, Inc., etc., et al. v. Jamison, 353 So. 2d 1269 (Fla. 1st DCA 1978). See also Shaffer v. Heitner, 433 U.S. 186, 97 S.Ct. 2569, 53 L.Ed.2d 683 (1977) wherein the court held invalid the assertion by a state of personal jurisdiction over defendants on the basis of property owned by them located in t…
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Rogers v. Firestone Tire & Rubber Co., 599 F. Supp. 676 (S.D. Fla. 1984)…be operating, conducting, engaging in or carrying on a business venture in this state. Application of § 48.181 requires the alleged injury be occasioned by defendant’s business activities within the state. See Holiday Inns Inc. v. Jamison, 353 So.2d 1269 (1st DCA 1978). Additionally, if plaintiff relies on subsection (3) (which the plaintiff does here), the plaintiff must allege and prove the defendant had a requisite degree of control over a jobber, broker, wholesaler or distributor alleged to have…
Authorities Cited
- The Elmex Corp. v. Atl. Fed. Sav. & Loan Ass'n OF Fort Lauderdale, 325 So. 2d 58 (Fla. 4th DCA 1976)
- Am. Baseball CAP, Inc. v. Duzinski, 308 So. 2d 639 (Fla. 1st DCA 1975)
- O'Connell v. Loach, 194 So. 2d 700 (Fla. 2d DCA 1967)
- Levine v. State, 251 So. 2d 552 (Fla. 4th DCA 1971)
- The Reader's Digest Ass'n v. State of Fla. on the relation of Doyle Conner, 251 So. 2d 552 (Fla. 1st DCA 1971)