Knepfle v. J & P Cycles, LLC

Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT MIDDLE DISTRICT OF FLORIDA TAMPA DIVISION

SHEILA KNEPFLE, Plaintiff,

v. Case No: 8:18-cv-543-KKM-CPT J&P CYCLES, LLC, LEMANS CORP., and HJC CORP., Defendants.

ORDER Following the issuance of the Eleventh Circuit’s Mandate in this case, I reconsider HJC’s Motion for Summary Judgment and grant it. (Doc. 268.) The Eleventh Circuit affirmed in part and reversed in part the order granting summary judgment to Defendants and denying as moot HJC’s separate motion for summary judgment, which reraised the

issue of personal jurisdiction that the previous district judge had denied. Knepfle v. J-Tech Corp., 48 F.4th 1282, 1286 (11th Cir. 2022). The Eleventh Circuit affirmed my exclusion of Knepfle’s expert and the resulting grant of summary judgment as to most Defendants, but reversed the denial of summary judgment to HJC. Id. That court held that Florida’s long-arm statute did not reach HJC, the parent company of HJCA, because Knepfle failed

to demonstrate that the subsidiary’s actions should be attributed to the parent. [d. at 1293.

Thus, the Eleventh Circuit reversed the denial of HJC’s Motion for Summary Judgment and affirmed the grant of summary judgment in favor of the remaining Defendants. Id. at 1286. For the reasons explained in the Eleventh Circuit’s opinion, the Court now grants HJC’s motion for summary judgment and dismisses HJC from the case for lack of personal jurisdiction. Because the Eleventh Circuit affirmed the Court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of the remaining Defendants, no additional action is necessary in this case. Accordingly, the following is ORDERED: 1. HJC’s Motion for Summary Judgment (Doc. 187) is GRANTED. 2. The earlier Order of dismissal and Judgment (Doc. 248, 249) are VACATED to the extent that they applied to HJC. 3. The Clerk is directed to DISMISS HJC from the action, ENTER an amended judgment in favor of the remaining Defendants, and to CLOSE this case. ORDERED in Tampa, Florida, on October 27, 2022.

fatten Keil, Mizell athryn’ Kimball Mizelle United States District Judge