Deloitte & Touche v. GENCOR INDUSTRIES

929 So. 2d 678, 2006 Fla. App. LEXIS 7856, 2006 WL 1359330
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedMay 19, 2006
Docket5D05-1734
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 929 So. 2d 678 (Deloitte & Touche v. GENCOR INDUSTRIES) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court of Appeal of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Deloitte & Touche v. GENCOR INDUSTRIES, 929 So. 2d 678, 2006 Fla. App. LEXIS 7856, 2006 WL 1359330 (Fla. Ct. App. 2006).

Opinion

929 So.2d 678 (2006)

DELOITTE & TOUCHE, Appellant,
v.
GENCOR INDUSTRIES, INC., Appellee.

No. 5D05-1734.

District Court of Appeal of Florida, Fifth District.

May 19, 2006.

James S. Toscano, of Lowndes, Drosdick, Doster, Kantor & Reed, P.A., Orlando, and Jennifer L. Conn, of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, LLP, New York, NY, for Appellant.

Walter A. Ketcham, Jr., and Ramon Vazquez, of Grower, Ketcham, Rutherford, Bronson, Eide Telan, P.A., Orlando, and Frank T. Apodaca of Susman Godfrey, LLP, Houston, TX, for Appellee.

GRIFFIN, J.

Appellant, Deloitte and Touche, a general partnership organized under the laws of *679 the United Kingdom ("DTGP"), appeals two non-final orders denying its motion to dismiss for lack of in personam jurisdiction and improper venue. We affirm the order on jurisdiction, but reverse the order on venue.

In the second amended complaint appellee, Gencor Industries, Inc. ("Gencor"), filed suit against its Florida auditor, Deloitte and Touche U.S. ("Deloitte U.S.") and DTGP concerning allegedly negligent audit work performed in the United Kingdom. Gencor ACP, a United Kingdom wholly-owned subsidiary of Gencor, had engaged DTGP to perform the work, which Gencor alleges failed to disclose a scheme on the part of Gencor ACP's senior management to conceal the company's true financial condition. Gencor's damage claims range from the cost of a second audit, to shareholder lawsuits, to delisting from its stock exchange and allegedly exceed $26 million.

The two claims asserted are "professional negligence" and "negligent misrepresentation." The second amended complaint asserts that in personam jurisdiction against DTGP is proper pursuant to section 48.193, Florida Statutes, because DTGP committed a tortious act within the state and because DTGP carried on business within the state. Venue in Orange County is alleged to be proper based on the cause of action accruing in Orange County.

Deloitte U.S. had been Gencor's accounting firm since 1993. In 1997, Gencor acquired a United Kingdom company known as ACP Holdings, Ltd. ("ACP Holdings"), which after the acquisition became Gencor ACP ("Gencor ACP"). Gencor asserted that Deloitte U.S. and DTGP conducted reviews of Gencor ACP's financial statements for quarterly periods in 1998, rendered an opinion on ACP Holdings' balance sheet dated September 30, 1997, and audited ACP Holdings' financial statements for the nine month period that ended September 30, 1997, but failed to uncover the scheme by Gencor ACP's senior management.

DTGP filed a motion to dismiss on three grounds: that the trial court lacked in personam jurisdiction, that venue in Florida was improper based on a forum selection clause contained in the engagement letter between DTGP and Gencor ACP, and because the statute of limitations had expired.[1] Both parties submitted affidavits in support of their respective positions.

Two hearings were conducted by the lower court. After the first hearing, the trial court denied DTGP's motion as to jurisdiction. The court ruled as follows:

DTGP and DTLLP assert that there is no personal jurisdiction over them, as they are English businesses and all of the work was performed in England. The affidavits filed in support of their motions to dismiss, however, concede that DTGP's employees communicated with DTUS regarding the work performed for Gencor ACP. Gencor argues that those statements, among others, constitute the negligent misrepresentations. It is further undisputed that DTGP knew that Gencor's principal place of business is in Florida, and therefore that any misrepresentations to Gencor would have an impact in Florida. Thus, personal jurisdiction exists over DTGP. OSI Indus. Inc. v. Carter, 834 So.2d 362, 367-68 (Fla. 5th DCA 2003) (telephone call from out of state defendant *680 to plaintiff in Florida that plaintiff alleged contained negligent misrepresentations was sufficient to constitute committing a tort in Florida and adequate minimum contacts to satisfy due process where defendant knew misrepresentations would impact plaintiff in Florida.)

Importantly, the court found that personal jurisdiction existed based on communications between DTGP's employees and Deloitte U.S. employees regarding work performed on behalf of Gencor ACP.

The venue and statute of limitations arguments were heard at the second hearing. The trial court again denied DTGP's motion to dismiss. The court ruled that the venue provision contained in the letter of engagement between Gencor ACP and DTGP requiring suit to be brought in the United Kingdom was not enforceable against Gencor because Gencor was not a party to the engagement contract between Gencor ACP and DTGP.

We must affirm on the issue of jurisdiction. In its second amended complaint, Gencor claims there is jurisdiction over DTGP because DTGP committed "tortious acts" in Florida. § 48.193(1)(b), Fla. Stat. (1997). Gencor does not contest that DTGP does not have an office, place of business, employees, agents, mailing address, telephone listing, real estate or property in Florida. Nor does it dispute that no one from DTGP ever traveled to Florida on business for Gencor or any related entity.

In Wendt v. Horowitz, 822 So.2d 1252, 1257-58 (Fla.2002), the supreme court of Florida held that a written communication from outside of the state can constitute the commission of a tortious act for purposes of Florida's long-arm statute and that physical presence in the state is not required to satisfy the constitutionally mandated requirement of minimum contacts. Citing Burger King Corp. v. Rudzewicz, 471 U.S. 462, 476, 105 S.Ct. 2174, 85 L.Ed.2d 528 (1985), the court concluded that communications from outside the state will satisfy minimum contacts so long as the commercial actor's efforts were purposefully directed toward a resident of Florida. 822 So.2d at 1258. The Wendt court also pointed out that the making of false telephonic, electronic, or written communications into Florida from outside the state will constitute "committing a tortious act" only if the alleged cause of action "arises from" the communications because of the connexity requirement contained in section 48.193(1). Id. at 1260.[2]

The supreme court in Wendt remanded the case to this court to determine whether the plaintiff had stated a cause of action for any tort cognizable in Florida and, if so, whether the communications made into Florida gave rise to the tort. Id. at 1260. Wendt is still the controlling law in Florida, which means that, in this case, we have the same task that we faced on remand in Wendt. See Horowitz v. Laske, 855 So.2d 169 (Fla. 5th DCA 2003). The obstacle we face in this case is similar, although not identical, to the issue in Horowitz. The tort at issue in this case is clearly identified by its title: "negligent misrepresentation." Unlike Horowitz, however, DTGP does not argue in this appeal that Gencor has failed to state a cause of action. Instead, DTGP seeks to limit Gencor to the facts that Gencor has pleaded.

Central to DTGP's argument on appeal is their contention that the only "misrepresentations" Gencor has pleaded are the *681 reports (containing DTGP's inaccurate evaluation of Gencor ACP's financial condition) that Gencor received from Deloitte U.S. The parties appear to agree that DTGP did not transmit its work directly to Gencor.

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Bluebook (online)
929 So. 2d 678, 2006 Fla. App. LEXIS 7856, 2006 WL 1359330, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/deloitte-touche-v-gencor-industries-fladistctapp-2006.