Kountze v. Kountze

996 So. 2d 246, 2008 WL 5191571
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedDecember 12, 2008
Docket2D07-4881
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 996 So. 2d 246 (Kountze v. Kountze) 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
Kountze v. Kountze, 996 So. 2d 246, 2008 WL 5191571 (Fla. Ct. App. 2008).

Opinion

996 So.2d 246 (2008)

Neely KOUNTZE, Appellant,
v.
Edward H. KOUNTZE, Appellee.

No. 2D07-4881.

District Court of Appeal of Florida, Second District.

December 12, 2008.

*247 Donna Waters Romero and Mara Shlackman of Law Offices of Carlos A. Velasquez, P.A., Fort Lauderdale, for Appellant.

Andrew G. Tretter of Quarles & Brady, LLP, Naples, for Appellee.

EN BANC

ALTENBERND, Judge.

Neely Kountze (Neely) appeals an order denying his motion to dismiss the complaint of his cousin, Edward Kountze (Edward), for lack of personal jurisdiction. Edward sued Neely for recording a telephone conversation between the two without Edward's permission in violation of the Florida Security of Communications Act (the Act). See § 934.03, Fla. Stat. (2002). Neely recorded the call from his office in Nebraska. We reverse because section 48.193(1)(b), Florida Statutes (2002), does not provide a basis for personal jurisdiction over a foreign defendant who recorded the call from his Nebraska office without engaging in any actions inside Florida. In so holding, we recede from our decision in Koch v. Kimball, 710 So.2d 5 (Fla. 2d DCA 1998).

In Koch, this court considered a similar claim. Id. at 6. We held that a Florida court possessed personal jurisdiction over a nonresident defendant who recorded a telephone conversation with a person in Florida because the recording of the conversation was the commission of a tortious act within this state for purposes of section 48.193(1)(b). We decided in Koch that the defendant's "interception" of the telephone call statutorily "occurred" at the point of origin in Florida and not at the point of reception and recordation in the foreign state. We concluded that the act of interception under the Act was sufficient to constitute the commission of a tortious act in Florida and thus was sufficient to establish long-arm jurisdiction under section 48.193(1)(b). Id.

*248 Our holding in Koch failed to provide a strict construction of section 48.193(1)(b). Contrary to our reasoning in Koch, we now conclude that a Florida statute that creates a private cause of action for the nonconsensual interception of a communication originating within Florida cannot transform a defendant's out-of-state act of recording that communication, standing alone, into a "tortious act within this state" for jurisdictional purposes. In so holding, we distinguish cases in which a conversation directed into Florida over an interstate telephone call was defamatory, fraudulent, or otherwise an element of a traditional intentional tort under the common law.

It is clear that the trial court in this case simply followed our ruling in Koch. Because Edward relied on our opinion in Koch as the exclusive basis for jurisdiction in the trial court, we reverse and remand this case. If Edward believes he can allege another statutory basis for long-arm jurisdiction under section 48.193 in good faith, he should be permitted to do so.

I. THE FACTS IN THIS CASE

We derive the following facts from the affidavits in support of Neely's motion to dismiss and the deposition transcripts and records Edward submitted in opposition to the motion to dismiss. See Wendt v. Horowitz, 822 So.2d 1252, 1254 (Fla.2002). Neely and Edward are first cousins. Neely lives in Nebraska, Edward in Colorado. The two men are board members of the Gilbert M. and Martha H. Hitchcock Foundation, a Nebraska charitable foundation that has been experiencing disputes among its board members. See generally Gilbert M. & Martha H. Hitchcock Found. v. Kountze, 272 Neb. 251, 720 N.W.2d 31 (2006). Edward and Neely appear to be on opposite sides of the dispute.

Edward's father has a home in Collier County, Florida. He too is a board member of the Hitchcock Foundation. Allegedly, the bylaws of the foundation require one of three specific members of the family to attend board meetings, and Edward's father is the last surviving member of this group. Thus, he must attend board meetings for the foundation to have a quorum. Although the board has met on most occasions since 1943 in Nebraska, it met in Collier County in 1999 and 2002, allegedly to accommodate the needs of this senior member of the board.

In May 2003, Neely called Edward's father in Collier County, Florida, and left a telephone message regarding a pending board meeting of the charitable foundation. Edward happened to be at his father's home in Florida at the time. Later that day, Edward returned the call to Neely's office in Nebraska. In his deposition, Neely claims that the call related to foundation business, but Edward claims that it primarily involved private matters relating to the health of Edward's father. During the call, Neely placed his wireless phone handset near a tape recorder and recorded the conversation without Edward's consent. Later that evening, Neely played a portion of the recording to his wife, a board member of the charitable foundation.

When Edward learned that his cousin had recorded this telephone conversation without his permission, he filed this lawsuit in 2003 in Collier County against Neely claiming the right to receive a civil remedy under section 934.10 of the Act for an illegal recording of a telephone conversation. Edward's only allegation to establish jurisdiction over Neely was that the recording in Nebraska constituted a tortious act within Florida under section 48.193(1)(b). Neely responded by moving to dismiss the lawsuit for lack of personal *249 jurisdiction and filed a supporting affidavit. Edward then filed his own affidavit and deposed Neely on the issue of jurisdiction.

In addition to the facts described above, the discovery process established that Neely lived and worked in Nebraska and had virtually no ties to Florida. At the time of these events, he owned no land or other property in Florida and was not conducting any personal business in Florida. In 2002, the year preceding the recorded telephone call, Neely had made a number of telephone calls from Nebraska attempting to talk to either Edward or his father while they were in Collier County. These calls related to a personal family issue, and Edward "frequently" did not return the calls. The call Neely made to Collier County in May 2003 and Edward's return call were apparently the only calls made that year.

The foundation's two Florida board meetings each lasted less than a day. Neely stayed in Florida for approximately a week on each occasion, engaging in vacation activities when not involved with the foundation. The foundation does not maintain any office or agency in Florida.[1]

In September 2007, the trial court conducted a hearing on the motion to dismiss and denied it. It is clear that our holding in Koch was critical to the trial court's decision and that Edward was relying exclusively on the theory that Neely had committed a tortious act in Florida, authorizing jurisdiction under section 48.193(1)(b). Neely then filed this timely appeal from the nonfinal order pursuant to Florida Rule of Appellate Procedure 9.130(a)(3)(C)(i).

II. THE FACTS IN KOCH

The facts in Koch involved closer ties between the nonresident defendant and the State of Florida. Ms. Koch worked as a salesperson for a company described only as "Progressive." Koch, 710 So.2d at 6. She lived in Georgia, but her sales territory included a portion of Florida. As part of her job, Ms. Koch made five three-day trips to Florida.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
996 So. 2d 246, 2008 WL 5191571, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kountze-v-kountze-fladistctapp-2008.