Fraser v. Smith

594 F.3d 842, 75 Fed. R. Serv. 3d 1211, 2010 A.M.C. 2904, 2010 U.S. App. LEXIS 1315, 2010 WL 184373
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
DecidedJanuary 21, 2010
Docket08-10680, 08-11417
StatusPublished
Cited by102 cases

This text of 594 F.3d 842 (Fraser v. Smith) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Fraser v. Smith, 594 F.3d 842, 75 Fed. R. Serv. 3d 1211, 2010 A.M.C. 2904, 2010 U.S. App. LEXIS 1315, 2010 WL 184373 (11th Cir. 2010).

Opinion

KRAVITCH, Circuit Judge:

Charles Fraser died, and several of his family members suffered injuries, in a tragic explosion aboard the Sundance, a boat operated by J&B Tours in the Turks and Caicos Islands. Charles’s estate and his injured relatives sued J&B Tours and several other defendants in the Southern District of Florida, 1 asserting various common-law claims and a federal statutory claim under the Death on the High Seas Act (DOHSA), 46 U.S.C. §§ 30301-08. The Frasers appeal from the district court’s order dismissing their claims against J&B Tours for lack of personal jurisdiction.

I. BACKGROUND

J&B Tours is a commercial tour operator, organized under the laws of the Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI), that specializes in providing boat charters and recreational water-sports services to foreign visitors. It is owned and operated by two full-time TCI residents and maintains its only offices in that territory. Although the company has no property or official presence in the United States, many of its customers are American tourists. To attract business from the United States and elsewhere, J&B Tours maintains a publicly accessible website (originally designed by a former customer in Pennsylvania) with *845 local contact information and descriptions of its services.

In its efforts to draw customers over the years, J&B Tours has advertised in several publications with circulation in the United States. It once placed an advertisement in Bridal Magazine, an American publication. It also placed a joint advertisement, with local hotels and the TCI Tourist Board, in the Miami Herald, and it has paid for advertising in a magazine distributed on commercial flights from the United States to the Islands. In addition, the company has appeared on an American television show and allowed itself to be listed in travel guides and directories available on the U.S. market.

J&B Tours has also established a number of business relationships with companies based in the United States. For example, it procured liability insurance through an insurance agent in Florida and has occasionally hired U.S. businesses to provide miscellaneous services to the company and its owners. It is the preferred services provider in the Turks and Caicos Islands for Maritz Company, a St. Louis-based travel company, and it maintains local relationships with TCI hotels owned by American companies. Furthermore, J&B Tours receives a commission for referring its customers to either of two American-owned car-rental companies. Finally, since its founding in 1993, J&B Tours has purchased about half of its boats in Florida. 2

Although J&B Tours has no employees in the United States, its owners have traveled here frequently, for both business (to arrange company purchases) and pleasure. One of the owners, in fact, is a U.S. citizen with a U.S. passport. In addition, the company once sent a maintenance supervisor to attend a five-month course on mechanical repairs in Florida. And on three occasions, J&B Tours sent representatives to the United States to promote its services: first, at a Delta Airlines promotion of the Turks and Caicos Islands in Atlanta, Georgia; second, in St. Louis to establish its relationship with Maritz Company; and third, at a trade show for the tourism industry in Florida. J&B Tours also had a brief promotional agreement with an individual in the Washington, D.C. area, but the arrangement failed to yield any business.

The Sundance was one of five boats J&B Tours had purchased in Florida from Jerry Smith, a co-defendant in this litigation. The Frasers allege that Smith’s defective design and construction of the Sun-dance, along with J&B Tours’ negligent maintenance thereof, allowed a spark inside the hull of the vessel to ignite fumes surrounding the fuel tank. 3 The resulting explosion formed the basis for the Frasers’ claims.

J&B Tours filed a motion to dismiss for, among other things, lack of personal jurisdiction. Following oral argument, the district court concluded that it lacked jurisdiction over J&B Tours and granted the motion. The Frasers appeal, arguing that the district court had both general and specific jurisdiction over J&B Tours pursuant to Florida’s long-arm statute and Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 4(k)(2). 4

*846 II. DISCUSSION

We review the district court’s dismissal for lack of personal jurisdiction de novo. Sculptchair, Inc. v. Century Arts, Ltd., 94 F.3d 623, 626 (11th Cir.1996). We accept factual allegations in the complaint as true to the extent that they are uncontested and, in eases of conflict, construe all reasonable inferences in the plaintiffs’ favor. SEC v. Carrillo, 115 F.3d 1540, 1542 (11th Cir.1997). The Frasers assert four bases for personal jurisdiction over J&B Tours, and we address them in turn.

A. Florida’s Long-Arm, Statute

“A federal district court in Florida may exercise personal jurisdiction over a nonresident defendant to the same extent that a Florida court may, so long as the exercise is consistent with federal due process requirements.” Licciardello v. Lovelady, 544 F.3d 1280, 1283 (11th Cir.2008). We therefore turn to Florida’s long-arm statute to determine whether a Florida court could exercise jurisdiction over J&B Tours in this case. Sculptchair, 94 F.3d at 626-27. The Frasers argue that J&B Tours was subject to the district court’s general jurisdiction pursuant to Fla. Stat. § 48.193(2) and, in the alternative, that the court had specific jurisdiction to adjudicate their claims against J&B Tours under Fla. Stat. § 48.193(l)(a).

1. General Jurisdiction Under Section 18.198(2)

Section 48.193(2) of Florida’s long-arm statute provides: “A defendant who is engaged in substantial and not isolated activity within this state, whether such activity is wholly interstate, intrastate, or otherwise, is subject to the jurisdiction of the courts of this state, whether or not the claim arises from that activity.” The reach of this provision extends to the limits on personal jurisdiction imposed by the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Woods v. Nova Cos. Belize, 739 So.2d 617, 620 (Fla.Dist.Ct.App.1999).

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594 F.3d 842, 75 Fed. R. Serv. 3d 1211, 2010 A.M.C. 2904, 2010 U.S. App. LEXIS 1315, 2010 WL 184373, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/fraser-v-smith-ca11-2010.