Intego Software, LLC d/b/a Critical Alert v. Concept Development, Inc.

198 So. 3d 887, 2016 Fla. App. LEXIS 11323, 2016 WL 3974994
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedJuly 25, 2016
Docket1D15-4082
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 198 So. 3d 887 (Intego Software, LLC d/b/a Critical Alert v. Concept Development, Inc.) 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
Intego Software, LLC d/b/a Critical Alert v. Concept Development, Inc., 198 So. 3d 887, 2016 Fla. App. LEXIS 11323, 2016 WL 3974994 (Fla. Ct. App. 2016).

Opinions

KELSEY, J.

Appellant, Plaintiff below, challenges the trial court’s order dismissing with prejudice- its breach of contract complaint against Appellee, Defendant, for lack of personal jurisdiction. We conclude that the uncontroverted jurisdictional allegations of Plaintiffs complaint were sufficient to establish personal jurisdiction over Defendant, and the trial court abused its discretion in refusing to allow Plaintiff to amend its complaint or its declarations in opposition to dismissal. Accordingly,- we reverse.

Jurisdictional Allegations.

Plaintiffs complaint alleged that Plaintiff is a Florida corporation with a place of business in Jacksonville, Florida. The complaint alleged that Defendant, a California company, pursued business in Florida through numerous communications in writing and over the phone, and by its representatives’ traveling to Florida to procure the business. The complaint alleged that the parties entered, and Defen- • dant committed acts constituting a breach of, a written agreement for Defendant to engineer and construct water-resistant, two-way-communication nurse call devices for use in hospitals.

The parties’ agreement was an exhibit to the complaint and thus part of the complaint for all purposes. Fla. R. Civ. P. 1.130(b) (“Any exhibit attached to a pleading shall be considered a part thereof for all purposes.”). The parties’ agreement required that all notices to Plaintiff must be made at Plaintiffs Jacksonville, Florida address. Under the agreement, - Defendant was required to provide deliverables to Plaintiff in Florida — initially prototypes, and ultimately finished, marketable products. Upon termination of the contract, Defendant was required to deliver to Plaintiff in Florida all records, documentation, plans, tools, and equipment relating to- Plaintiffs business and the work performed under the agreement.

The complaint alleged that, although the agreement contemplated Defendant would deliver final products Compliant with Plaintiffs specifications within 16 weeks, and Plaintiff paid Defendant $110,000, over a year passed without delivery of satisfactory marketable products. The complaint alleged that the deliverables Defendant provided to Plaintiff failed to comply with the agreement. -When Plaintiffs attempts to discuss the problems failed, Plaintiff gave notice of termination and demanded a refund of its payments, ultimately filing suit seeking damages for lost profits, delays in marketing its product, injury to its reputation, and lost revenues.

Defendant’s Challenge To The Jurisdictional Allegations.

Before answering the complaint, Defendant moved to dismiss it for lack of personal jurisdiction or, alternatively, forum non conveniens. Defendant denied engaging in business in Florida and denied that the contract was to be performed in Florida. Defendant asserted that it “only made two trips to Florida to meet with Plaintiffs employees but performed no services in Florida at those meetings.” Defendant did not deny the other jurisdictional allegations of the complaint.

[890]*890In support of its motion to dismiss, Defendant filed the sworn affidavit-of its Chief Executive Officer, denying Defendant had done any of the following in Florida:

With respect to Florida, [Defendant] does not and has not:
a. Owned any real or personal property in Florida;
b. Have an office or designated agent in Florida;
c. Have a Florida bank account;
d. . Have a Florida property tax listing;
e. Registered to do business in Florida;
f. Have any employees in the state of Florida;
g. Carried on any business in Florida;
h. Earned any income performing services in the state of Florida;
i. Committed any tortious action in the state of Florida;
j. Agreed to be suhject to the jurisdiction of the state of Florida or consented to venue in Florida;
k, Breached any contracts or agreements in Florida..

Plaintiff’s Response Supporting Jurisdiction.

Plaintiff filed a response to Defendant’s motion to dismiss, arguing that the uncon-troverted jurisdictional allegations of the complaint were sufficient to establish jurisdiction and if they were not, the declarations of Plaintiffs president and its hardware engineer added facts supporting the exercise of jurisdiction. Neither of Plaintiffs two “declarations” was sworn or notarized. .

In the first declaration, Plaintiffs president confirmed that. Defendant’s representatives traveled to Jacksonville, Florida, twice to negotiate the agreement and its terms, including deadline, schedule for deliverables, and cost. After one meeting, Defendant’s president informed Plaintiffs president that he (Defendant’s president) was meeting with another potential customer in the Jacksonville area. Thereafter, through multiple telephone conferences, Defendant’s representatives solicited Plaintiff to expand the parties’ contractual relationship to encompass additional work over a longer term. Defendant and its agents were in “constant communication ... via telephone, e-mail, telefax, and regular mail,” including “well over 100 e-mail communications and scores of phone calls to [Plaintiffs] employees in Florida concerning the device.” Defendant delivered to Plaintiff in Jacksonville, Florida, a list of technical requirements, a 3-D mechanical model, a plastic model of the circuit boards, and a call unit for testing. Plaintiffs president stated that the parties’ agreement was negotiated in Plaintiffs Florida office and that he signed it in his Florida office. He asserted that the breach occurred in Florida “by virtue of Defendant’s tender of totally defective deliverables to my Florida office.”

The second declaration filed with Plaintiffs response to Defendant’s motion to dismiss was that of Plaintiffs hardware engineer. He repeated that Defendant and its agents were in constant communication with Plaintiffs employees during the entire 12-month course of performance under the agreement, and mostly with him as the employee most knowledgeable about the technical requirements of the project. He quantified the communications as encompassing well over 100 e-mail communications regarding the call device, many dealing with the engineer’s belief that the design of the unit was flawed; and he maintained there were scores of phone calls. He also stated that Defendant delivered to Plaintiffs Jacksonville, .Florida office “a list of the technical requirements, [891]*891the 3D mechanical model, a plastic model of the circuit boards, as well as a unit for testing, all of which were defective in one way or another.”

The Hearing And The Dismissal With Prejudice.

At the very brief hearing on Defendant’s motion to dismiss, the trial judge noted that she had not received Plaintiffs response or declarations. The docket reflects that they had been filed with the clerk and served on opposing counsel a week before the hearing. Plaintiffs counsel stated that she had e-mailed the judge’s assistant to arrange direct delivery of a copy of the papers but did not hear back from the assistant.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
198 So. 3d 887, 2016 Fla. App. LEXIS 11323, 2016 WL 3974994, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/intego-software-llc-dba-critical-alert-v-concept-development-inc-fladistctapp-2016.