HOMEWAY FURN. CO. OF MOUNT AIRY v. Horne

822 So. 2d 533
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedJuly 19, 2002
Docket2D01-2581
StatusPublished

This text of 822 So. 2d 533 (HOMEWAY FURN. CO. OF MOUNT AIRY v. Horne) 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
HOMEWAY FURN. CO. OF MOUNT AIRY v. Horne, 822 So. 2d 533 (Fla. Ct. App. 2002).

Opinion

822 So.2d 533 (2002)

HOMEWAY FURNITURE COMPANY OF MOUNT AIRY, INC., a foreign corporation; and Teresa Nance, individually, Appellants,
v.
Mark J. HORNE, Appellee.

No. 2D01-2581.

District Court of Appeal of Florida, Second District.

July 19, 2002.

*534 Anthony J. Russo and Robert E. Vaughn, Jr., of Butler Burnette Pappas, LLP, Tampa, for Appellants.

*535 George M. Osborne, St. Petersburg, for Appellee.

ALTENBERND, Judge.

Homeway Furniture Company of Mount Airy, Inc. ("Homeway Furniture"), and its shareholder, Teresa Nance, appeal an order denying their motion to dismiss the complaint of Mark Home for lack of personal jurisdiction. We reverse because Florida's long-arm statute, section 48.193, Florida Statutes (2000), does not provide a basis for a Florida court to assert personal jurisdiction over these foreign defendants. Specifically, Mr. Home's complaint for false arrest, malicious prosecution, and abuse of process and his supporting affidavits do not establish that either Ms. Nance or Homeway Furniture committed a tortious act in this state.

Mark Horne, a Florida resident, discovered a website owned by Homeway Furniture that advertised the company's products. The website was not interactive, and therefore, Mr. Home traveled to North Carolina in June 2000 to purchase furniture from the company. All of the offices, showrooms, and warehouses of Homeway Furniture are in the state of North Carolina.

Mr. Home purchased furniture from Homeway Furniture for approximately $30,000. Mr. Home paid approximately $3,000 of this amount by credit card. For the remaining balance, Homeway Furniture accepted two postdated checks of $13,500 each from Mr. Home. According to Mr. Home, the parties anticipated that Homeway Furniture would continue to provide interior design services to him for his home in Tampa, Florida, but there was no written agreement to this effect. The purchase contract between the parties listed Mr. Horne's residence as his address in Tampa, and the parties arranged for a third-party carrier to deliver the furniture to Mr. Home's residence in Tampa.

When the furniture was delivered, a dispute arose over the quality and condition of the goods. Mr. Home contacted Homeway Furniture to complain and instructed them not to present one of the postdated checks for payment. While discussions between the parties continued in an effort to resolve the dispute, Homeway Furniture presented the check for payment and the check was returned for insufficient funds. Upon the return of the check, Ms. Nance, an officer and shareholder of Homeway Furniture who allegedly participated in the sale, filed a criminal complaint with the Mount Airy Police Department in North Carolina alleging that Mr. Home had uttered a worthless check.

Based upon this complaint, North Carolina law enforcement obtained a felony arrest warrant, which was transmitted to the Tampa Police Department to execute upon Mr. Home. Mr. Home was arrested by Tampa police and spent a day in a Hillsborough County jail before a North Carolina district attorney recalled the arrest warrant. Apparently, North Carolina law, like Florida law, does not permit criminal charges on postdated checks. See, e.g., § 832.05, Fla. Stat. (2001); N.C. Gen. Stat. § 14-107 (2001); State v. Byrd, 204 N.C. 162, 167 S.E. 626 (1933).

Once the criminal prosecution against Mr. Home was terminated in North Carolina, he brought this suit against Ms. Nance, Homeway Furniture, and Officer D.A. Vernon of the Mount Airy Police Department, as an individual. The complaint accused the defendants of malicious prosecution, false imprisonment, and abuse of process. Both Ms. Nance and Homeway Furniture sought to dismiss the complaint for lack of personal jurisdiction. Officer Vernon filed a separate motion to dismiss that was also denied. He has not *536 appealed the order or appeared in this appeal.

Ms. Nance and Mr. Horne each submitted affidavits to support their respective positions. The underlying facts, as set forth in this opinion, are not in material dispute. The parties simply dispute whether these facts support a Florida court's exercise of personal jurisdiction over Ms. Nance and Homeway Furniture in accordance with Florida's long-arm statute and principles of due process.

In Florida, a case-specific determination of long-arm jurisdiction requires a two-step inquiry: (1) whether the complaint alleges sufficient facts to bring the action within the ambit of section 48.193; and (2) whether sufficient "minimum contacts" exist between the defendant and the forum state to satisfy constitutional due process requirements. Venetian Salami Co. v. Parthenais, 554 So.2d 499 (Fla. 1989). See also Doe v. Thompson, 620 So.2d 1004 (Fla.1993). If Florida's long-arm statute does not provide a basis for personal jurisdiction under the initial statutory prong of this inquiry, the constitutional analysis is unnecessary. In this case, we conclude that Florida's long-arm statute does not permit the exercise of jurisdiction, so we do not consider whether exercising jurisdiction would violate due process.

Mr. Horne argues that the actions of Homeway Furniture and Ms. Nance may subject them to jurisdiction in this state under three subsections of section 48.193. First, Mr. Horne argues that section 48.193(1)(a) permits jurisdiction over the defendants because Homeway Furniture was operating or engaging in a business in this state. Because this section involves general jurisdiction, however, the business activities of the nonresident defendant must be considered collectively and must show a general course of business activity in Florida for pecuniary gain. See Tex. Guaranteed Student Loan Corp. v. Ward, 696 So.2d 930 (Fla. 2d DCA 1997).

Here, the evidence presented to the trial court by way of affidavits established that Homeway Furniture conducted the bulk of its business in North Carolina and that it had no facilities or offices in Florida. Homeway Furniture's business connections with Florida, as alleged, included only (1) creating a website that could be viewed by Florida residents and (2) contracting with Mr. Horne in North Carolina and assisting in arranging shipment of his furniture to Florida through a common carrier. There was no evidence presented as to whether Homeway Furniture had other regular business dealings with Florida residents. This limited business activity is not enough to support a finding that Homeway Furniture was engaged in a business in this state. See Jasper v. Zara, 595 So.2d 1075 (Fla. 2d DCA 1992) (holding long-arm statute did not permit exercise of jurisdiction over defendant New York financial planners who never maintained office, agent, address, or telephone listing in Florida and who communicated by phone and letter with Florida client only after Florida client solicited their assistance); Travel Opportunities of Fort Lauderdale, Inc. v. Walter Karl List Mgmt., Inc., 726 So.2d 313 (Fla. 4th DCA 1998) (holding Florida court had no personal jurisdiction over nonresident defendant under section 48.193(1)(a) when defendant advertised in international magazines that reached Florida and entered into contract with Florida plaintiff, but did not otherwise have business presence in Florida).

Mr. Horne also argues that Florida courts can assert personal jurisdiction over *537 Homeway Furniture and Ms. Nance pursuant to section 48.193(1)(f)(2).

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822 So. 2d 533, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/homeway-furn-co-of-mount-airy-v-horne-fladistctapp-2002.