Lester v. ARB

658 So. 2d 583, 1995 WL 390360
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedJuly 5, 1995
Docket94-632
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 658 So. 2d 583 (Lester v. ARB) 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
Lester v. ARB, 658 So. 2d 583, 1995 WL 390360 (Fla. Ct. App. 1995).

Opinion

658 So.2d 583 (1995)

Kent LESTER, Appellant,
v.
Timothy K. ARB, Appellee.

No. 94-632.

District Court of Appeal of Florida, Third District.

July 5, 1995.
Rehearing Denied August 23, 1995.

Allen D. Fuller, Coconut Grove, for appellant.

David J. Volk, Merritt Island, for appellee.

Before HUBBART, BASKIN and COPE, JJ.

PER CURIAM.

This is an appeal by the defendant Kent Lester from a non-final order denying his motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction over the defendant. The basic ground urged in the motion to dismiss is that the complaint filed in this cause fails to allege sufficient jurisdictional facts to invoke Florida's long-arm statute [§ 48.193, Fla. Stat. (1991)] against the defendant who, the plaintiff Timothy Arb now concedes, is a nonresident of Florida; secondarily, the defendant also urged in the motion to dismiss that the allegation in the complaint that he was a resident of the state of Florida was "false," and, as proof thereof, attached an affidavit *584 stating that he was a resident of the state of South Carolina.[1] The plaintiff Arb filed a counter affidavit, but did not dispute the defendant's non-residence status. Neither party requested an evidentiary hearing on the motion to dismiss or the filed affidavits.

The sole point raised on appeal is that the trial court erred in denying the motion to dismiss because the complaint fails to allege sufficient jurisdictional allegations to invoke the application of Florida's long-arm statute [§ 48.193, Fla. Stat. (1991)].[2]*585 We disagree. The complaint, although not specifically referencing or tracking the long arm-statute, alleges sufficient jurisdictional facts that the defendant was "conducting ... a business venture in Florida," § 48.193(1)(a), Fla. Stat. (1991), as well as, "[b]reaching a contract in [Florida] by failing to perform acts required by the contract to be performed in [Florida]," § 48.193(1)(g), Fla. Stat. (1991), and attaches thereto a written agreement to sell motor homes in Florida which the defendant allegedly breached in Florida. See Holton v. Prosperity Bank of St. Augustine, 602 So.2d 659, 660 (Fla. 5th DCA 1992); Pellerito Foods, Inc. v. American Conveyors Corp., 542 So.2d 426 (Fla. 3d DCA 1989); Renda v. Peoples Fed. Sav. & Loan Ass'n of Tarentum, Pa., 538 So.2d 860, 862 (Fla. 1st DCA 1988), rev. denied, 542 So.2d 1334 (Fla. 1989); W.C.T.U. Ry. v. Szilagyi, 511 So.2d 727, 728 (Fla. 3d DCA 1987).

Affirmed.[3]

HUBBART and BASKIN, JJ., concur.

COPE, Judge (dissenting).

I respectfully dissent. The order under review should be reversed.

I.

This case comes to us in a peculiar procedural posture. Plaintiff-appellee Timothy K. Arb sued defendant-appellant Kent Lester and a third individual, Kris Capes, alleging that the three of them had entered into a written partnership agreement for the marketing of recreational vehicles in South Florida in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Andrew. Plaintiff asked for dissolution of the alleged partnership and damages.

Plaintiff alleged that defendant Lester and codefendant Capes were both residents of Dade County, Florida. As plaintiff pled it, this was not a long-arm case at all, but simply a dispute among Florida residents.

Lester moved to dismiss for want of personal jurisdiction, asserting by affidavit that he is a South Carolina resident and never has been a Florida resident. Plaintiff now concedes that this is so.

Lester's motion to dismiss went on to claim that the complaint did not adequately allege a basis for long-arm jurisdiction. I agree with the majority that the facts set forth in the complaint sufficiently allege the conducting of a business venture in Florida, and the breach of a contract in Florida by failing to perform acts required by the contract to be performed in Florida. See § 48.193(1)(a), (g), Fla. Stat. (1991).

II.

Where I must respectfully part company with the majority is over the majority's determination not to reach Lester's claim for dismissal under the corporate shield doctrine. See Doe v. Thompson, 620 So.2d 1004, 1006 (Fla. 1993); McDougal v. Mizrahi, 636 So.2d 138 (Fla. 3d DCA 1994).

I completely agree with the majority that we can only review issues which were presented in the first instance to the trial court. I must respectfully suggest, however, that *586 the majority is giving Lester's motion and appeal papers a narrower reading than they deserve.

The alleged partnership agreement in this case was a brief memorandum which called for marketing of recreational vehicles to persons in Dade County who needed temporary housing.[1] The question for jurisdictional purposes is whether Lester signed this document in his capacity as corporate officer, or in his individual capacity.

Defendant Lester's affidavit in support of the motion to dismiss outlines the circumstances as follows:

BEFORE ME, the undersigned personally appeared, KENT LESTER, who being first duly sworn, deposes and says:
1) I am not now, nor have I ever been a resident of Dade County, Florida.
2) Since prior to September of 1992, and through the present, I have been and remain a resident of the state of South Carolina.
3) Exhibit "A" attached to the Complaint in this matter [the agreement quoted in footnote 1 supra] was signed by me in the chaos following Hurricane Andrew.
4) I was in Florida in my status as an officer and employee of Holiday Kamper Company of Columbia, Inc. a South Carolina corporation.
5) I was on a lot operated by Camptown RV Country, Inc., where I had delivered numerous travel trailers. Hundreds of persons were on the lot clamoring to get priority for these homes and we were busy dealing with them, their insurance companies, and making arrangements so these could be financed, delivered, installed, etc.
6) In the midst of the chaos, Timothy Arb, who worked for Camptown RV Country, Inc. a corporation controlled by Kris Capes, asked me to sign this piece of paper to confirm that a deal had been struck.
7) The business in progress was being conducted between the two corporations, and I assumed that the document involved this operation.
8) There was no witness or notary to my signature.
9) There was no agreement reached between Tim Arb, individually; Kent Lester, individually; and Kris Capes, individually, or any intention that any business be conducted individually between these parties.
10) There never was any attempt to do any business other than to continue the business that had already been agreed upon and commenced prior to the signing of that piece of paper.
11) As mentioned in my prior affidavit, for over 20 years I have been involved in this business solely as an officer,[[2]] director, and minority shareholder of Holiday Kamper Company of Columbia, Inc. a South Carolina corporation. I have never negotiated with any party to conduct any travel trailers business in the last twenty (20) years except through this entity, nor have I conducted any business except through this entity in Florida or elsewhere during that period.
FURTHER AFFIANT SAYETH NOT.
/S/ Kent Lester

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Bluebook (online)
658 So. 2d 583, 1995 WL 390360, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lester-v-arb-fladistctapp-1995.