THOMAS J. CONNELL AND GAIL M. CONNELL, APPELLANTS,
v.
OTT RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT, INC., APPELLEE

Fla. 3d DCA | 1978-10-10
No. 77-2114
Before HENDRY, HUBBART and KE-HOE, JJ.
363 So. 2d 163 Florida District Court of Appeal, Third District (1978) Positive Treatment
Cited by 2 cases

AI-generated. These summaries, headnotes, and key points are machine-generated and may contain errors or omissions. Always verify against the full opinion text below. Not legal advice.

Synopsis

In a subrogation action, the court reversed a trial court's denial of defendants' motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction, holding that Florida's long-arm statutes enacted in 1973 cannot be applied retroactively to causes of action that accrued before their effective date.


Holding

Florida's long-arm statutes are not retroactive in application. Because the cause of action accrued when Ott paid the bank's debt in 1971—before the statutes became effective on July 1, 1973—the statutes cannot be used to establish jurisdiction over the defendants. The trial court erred in denying the motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction.


Headnotes

[1] Florida's long-arm statutes are not retroactive in application.

[2] A guarantor's cause of action for reimbursement accrues at the time the guarantor satisfies the debtor's obligation.

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

Key Quotes

“It has been clearly determined that Florida's long-arm statutes are not retroactive in application.”

Establishes the central legal principle that long-arm statutes cannot be applied to causes of action accruing before their effective date.

Previewing 1 of 3 key quotes on this case — the court’s exact language, pinpointed for members.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

Facts & Procedural History

Connells executed a promissory note to First National Bank of Miami in April 1969. Ott Research & Development guaranteed the note that same day. Conne…

The full statement of facts, procedural history, and disposition for this case are member content.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

© FLexlaw, Inc. — AI-generated enrichments are proprietary. All rights reserved.


Opinion of the Court
HENDRY, Judge.

HENDRY, Judge.

Appellants/defendants, the makers of a promissory note in favor of First National Bank of Miami, take this interlocutory appeal from an order denying their motion to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction over the person in a subrogation action filed by appellee/plaintiff, the guarantor of the promissory note. We reverse.

On April 25, 1969, appellants, then residents of Florida, executed and delivered a promissory note in favor of First National Bank of Miami. That same day, appellee entered into a separate contract of guarantee in favor of the bank in which they guaranteed the obligation of appellants. Appellants defaulted under the terms of the note on August 18,1971, by failing to make a payment then due. Pursuant to its contract of guarantee, appellee then became liable to satisfy the indebtedness.

On March 10, 1976, appellee filed what amounts to a subrogation action against appellants, who by that time had moved to Georgia and had become residents of that state. By this action, appellee sought reimbursement of the monies it had paid the bank toward the satisfaction of appellants’ obligation, in addition to interest, costs and attorney’s fees. Appellants were personally served in Georgia pursuant to Florida’s long statutes, Sections 48.193 and 48.194, Florida Statutes (1977). Subsequently, appellants moved to dismiss the complaint for lack of jurisdiction over the person on the ground that any cause of action accrued in favor of appellee prior to the effective date of the long-arm statutes. As such, appellants argued that the utilization of the personal service provision of Section 48.194 was ineffective as a means of gaining jurisdiction over their persons. The trial judge entered an order denying the motion to dismiss and this appeal follows.

It has been clearly determined that Florida’s long-arm statutes are not retroactive in application. International Graphics, Inc. v. MTA-Travel Ways, Inc., 71 F.R.D. 598 (S.D.Fla.1976); Barton v. Keyes Company, 305 So. 2d 269 (Fla.3d DCA 1974). Sections 48.193 and 48.194 became effective on July 1,1973. The accrual of the cause of action in favor of appellee, as guarantor of the note, occurred at the time it answered its obligation on the debt by paying same according to the tenor of the note — sometime in 1971. See United States v. Continental Casualty Co., 512 F. 2d 475 (5th Cir. 1975); 38 Am.Jur.2d Guaranty § 127 (1968). Sections 48.193 and 48.194 are therefore not available to appellee as a means of gaining jurisdiction over appellants.

In addition, we note that notwithstanding the applicability or inapplicability of the long-arm statutes, the complaint, itself, was defective in that appellee failed to clearly plead the jurisdictional basis for service upon the non-resident appellants as required by law. Yachts v. Ray Richard, Inc., 347 So. 2d 779 (Fla.3d DCA 1977).

Accordingly, the trial judge erred in denying appellants’ motion to dismiss the complaint for lack of jurisdiction over the person.

Reversed and remanded for further proceedings.1

. We have not been called upon to determine whether the former long-arm statute, now repealed, Section 48.182, in effect at the time of the accrual of the cause of action, or Section 48.181, still in effect, could be utilized by appel-lee sub judice as a means of gaining jurisdiction over appellants. We leave those avenues open for appellee’s consideration in light of International Graphics, Inc. v. MTA-Travel Ways, Inc., supra.


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Cited By

  • Connell v. OTT Research & Dev., Inc., 377 So. 2d 219 (Fla. 3d DCA 1979)
    …ction 48.193 and 48.194, Florida Statutes (1975), was held to be ineffective on the ground that the cause of action arose prior to the effective date of the service statute, which was not retroactive. See Connell v. Ott Research & Development, Inc., 363 So. 2d 163 (Fla. 3d DCA 1978). In the opinion on that first appeal, by footnote the court stated it was not called upon to decide whether substituted service could be made under Section 48.181, Florida Statutes (1977), which provides for service on non-residen…

Authorities Cited

Full citator, related cases, and AI research tools

Open in FLexlaw