Northwestern Aircraft Capital Corp. v. Stewart

842 So. 2d 190, 2003 Fla. App. LEXIS 3784, 2003 WL 1386706
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedMarch 21, 2003
Docket5D02-1583
StatusPublished
Cited by21 cases

This text of 842 So. 2d 190 (Northwestern Aircraft Capital Corp. v. Stewart) 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
Northwestern Aircraft Capital Corp. v. Stewart, 842 So. 2d 190, 2003 Fla. App. LEXIS 3784, 2003 WL 1386706 (Fla. Ct. App. 2003).

Opinion

842 So.2d 190 (2003)

NORTHWESTERN AIRCRAFT CAPITAL CORPORATION, et al., Appellants,
v.
Anastasia T. STEWART, et al., Appellees.

No. 5D02-1583.

District Court of Appeal of Florida, Fifth District.

March 21, 2003.

*192 Donald L. O'Dell of Meier, Lengauer, Bonner, Muszynski & Doyle, P.A., Orlando for Appellants Northwestern Aircraft Capital Corporation and Jetwest International, L.L.C.

H. Gregory McNeill, Terry C. Young and Geoffrey B. di Mauro of Lowndes, Drosdick, Doster, Kantor & Reed, P.A., Orlando, for Appellees Anastasia Theresa Stewart, Debra Dawson Ardan and Dixie Leigh Johnston Fraley.

Joel S. Perwin of Podhurst, Orseck, Josefsberg, Eaton, Meadow, Olin & Perwin, P.A., Miami and McKinney & Stringer, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, for Appellees Donna Kling, Dr. Roberto Bellegarrigue and Irma Elena Bellegarrigue.

Adam Trachtenberg, Mark Hicks and Fleur J. Lobree of Hicks, Anderson & Kneale, P.A., Miami, for Appellees Kathryn Borland, Individually, and Kathryn Borland as Personal Representative of the Estate of Bruce E. Borland.

SAWAYA, J.

Northwestern Aircraft Capital Corporation and Jetwest International, L.L.C. (collectively referred to as the defendants) appeal the trial court's denial of their motion to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction that was filed in the underlying wrongful death action. The defendants argue that the trial court erred in denying their motion because the estates of the decedants (collectively referred to as the plaintiffs) failed to allege sufficient jurisdictional facts to bring the action within the ambit of Florida's long-arm statute and also failed to demonstrate sufficient minimum contacts to satisfy due process requirements. We affirm.

Factual and Procedural Background[1]

On October 25, 1999, four passengers and two pilots embarked upon a journey from which they would never return. Their fateful odyssey began when they boarded a charter jet at the Orlando International Airport bound for Dallas, Texas. After take-off and while the plane was still in Florida airspace, the cabin of the plane depressurized. The effect of this unfortunate event was that it deprived all of the occupants of oxygen and led to their demise. All radio contact with the plane ceased before it left Florida airspace. Although the plane was programmed for autopilot controlled flight, it deviated from its projected flight path, climbed through its assigned altitude limit, and meandered through airspace for several hours with its deceased occupants on board. When it finally exhausted its fuel supply, the plane crashed in South Dakota.

The plaintiffs filed a wrongful death action in Florida, asserting claims of negligence and strict liability and alleging that *193 the Florida court has personal jurisdiction over the defendants. The defendants filed a motion to dismiss on the ground that the Florida court did not have personal jurisdiction over them. The trial court denied the motion, finding that the plaintiffs established jurisdiction pursuant to sections 48.193(1)(f)1. and 48.193(2), Florida Statutes, and that because the defendants have minimum contacts with the state of Florida, all due process requirements had been satisfied. In order to determine whether the trial court erred, we will first address the general requirements that must be met in order to establish long-arm jurisdiction.

General Requirements For Long-Arm Jurisdiction

We must utilize the de novo standard of review when deciding whether a trial court properly denied a motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction. Wendt v. Horowitz, 822 So.2d 1252 (Fla. 2002). Two inquiries must be made when deciding whether a Florida court has personal jurisdiction over a nonresident:

First, the complaint must allege sufficient facts to bring the action within the ambit of one of the various jurisdictional criteria contained in Florida's long-arm statute found in section 48.193, Florida Statutes (2000). Second, if the complaint properly alleges long-arm jurisdiction, sufficient minimum contacts must be demonstrated that satisfy the requirements of federal due process.

Law Offices of Sybil Shainwald v. Barro, 817 So.2d 873, 875-76 (Fla. 5th DCA 2002) (citations omitted); see Execu-Tech Bus. Sys., Inc. v. New Oji Paper Co. Ltd., 752 So.2d 582 (Fla.2000); Venetian Salami Co. v. Parthenais, 554 So.2d 499 (Fla.1989).

Resolution of the first issue requires statutory analysis of Florida's long-arm statute found in section 48.193, Florida Statutes, which bestows broad jurisdiction on Florida courts. Execu-Tech. In order to satisfy the first inquiry, it is permissible to plead the pertinent language of the statute in the complaint without specifically pleading the facts that support the statutory allegations. Fla. R. Civ. P. 1.070(h); Shainwald; see also Harris v. Shuttleworth & Ingersoll, P.C., 831 So.2d 706 (Fla. 4th DCA 2002). Section 48.193 provides two categories of personal jurisdiction: specific jurisdiction, conferred under section 48.193(1), and general jurisdiction, conferred under section 48.193(2). Christus St. Joseph's Health Sys. v. Witt Biomedical Corp., 805 So.2d 1050 (Fla. 5th DCA 2002).

The second issue involves constitutional analysis which is controlled by United States Supreme Court precedent interpreting the Due Process Clause. This analysis imposes a more restrictive requirement than the statutory analysis. Execu-Tech.

In Shainwald, this court discussed the procedure the parties must follow to properly raise and litigate the issue of personal jurisdiction under section 48.193:

A defendant from a foreign jurisdiction may contest jurisdiction by filing a motion to dismiss. The motion may challenge the jurisdictional allegations of the complaint and it may claim a lack of sufficient minimum contacts. Affidavits are generally necessary to support these challenges because the motion, by itself, only raises the legal sufficiency of the pleadings which is not an issue in these proceedings. The burden then shifts to the plaintiff to prove by affidavit or other sworn statement that jurisdiction is proper. If the affidavits can be harmonized, the trial court can make a decision based upon facts that are essentially undisputed. If the affidavits are in direct conflict and cannot be reconciled, then the trial court must hold a limited *194 evidentiary hearing to determine jurisdiction.

Shainwald, 817 So.2d at 876 (citations omitted). The parties followed this procedure in the instant case. The defendants' motion to dismiss challenges the jurisdictional allegations contained in the plaintiffs' complaint and alleges lack of sufficient minimum contacts. The defendants also submitted affidavits to support these challenges. The plaintiffs filed depositions containing sworn testimony of witnesses to show that jurisdiction is proper.

The parties agreed during oral argument that the affidavits and depositions can be harmonized and no direct conflict exists. Therefore, we will next determine whether the trial court erred in finding that the plaintiffs demonstrated a statutory basis for jurisdiction sufficient to satisfy the first inquiry. Because the plaintiffs allege that the Florida court has both specific and general jurisdiction, each category will be discussed.

Statutory Analysis: Resolution of the First Inquiry

Specific Jurisdiction

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842 So. 2d 190, 2003 Fla. App. LEXIS 3784, 2003 WL 1386706, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/northwestern-aircraft-capital-corp-v-stewart-fladistctapp-2003.