MARIA COLMENARES PACHECO v. ALEKSANDER SAMARDJICH

• Court: District Court of Appeal of Florida
• Decided: June 7, 2023
• Docket: 22-1845
• Status: Published

Opinion

Third District Court of Appeal State of Florida

Opinion filed June 7, 2023. Not final until disposition of timely filed motion for rehearing.

________________

No. 3D22-1845 Lower Tribunal No. 21-21266 ________________

Maria Colmenares Pacheco, Appellant,

vs.

Aleksander Samardjich, Appellee.

An appeal from a non-final order from the Circuit Court for Miami-Dade County, Beatrice Butchko, Judge.

Boyd & Jenerette, P.A., Kansas R. Gooden, and Kevin D. Franz (Boca Raton), for appellant.

Kaplan Law Group, P.A., Christina J. Hudson, and Michael D. Kaplan (Hollywood), for appellee.

Before LOGUE, MILLER, and GORDO, JJ.

PER CURIAM. Affirmed. See Hague Convention, art. 1, 20 U.S.T. 361 (1969) (“This

Convention shall not apply where the address of the person to be served

with the document is not known.”); Delancy v. Tobias, 26 So. 3d 77, 79–80

(Fla. 3d DCA 2010) (finding plaintiff demonstrated requisite diligence in

attempting to locate defendant where affidavit of diligent search delineated

substantial “honest and conscientious” efforts to locate defendant);

Fernandez v. Chamberlain, 201 So. 2d 781, 785 (Fla. 2d DCA 1967)

(“[W]hen a . . . resident [motor vehicle] owner . . . who subsequently

becomes a non-resident[,] . . . accepts the privilege of the public highways

of the state and is involved in an accident, he [or she] has a duty not to

conceal his [or her] whereabouts and to let his [or her] whereabouts be

known so that any one [sic] involved in such accident and sustaining injury

or damage may come into court and seek redress. If such an owner . . .

conceals his [or her] whereabouts and makes it impossible for an aggrieved

party to serve him [or her] with notice by registered mail as provided by the

statute and such aggrieved party shows that he has used due diligence in

endeavoring to make service, this will not prevent the [c]ourt from obtaining

jurisdiction over such owner . . . .”).