Employment & Labor Law
Please select a topic from the drop down list
XL Vision, LLC, et. al. v. Holloway
28 Fla. L. Weekly D2344a (Fla. 5th DCA October 10, 2003)
In 2000, Appellee and XL Vision Inc. entered into an at-will employment contract. A year later, the assets of XL Vision Inc. were transferred to Appellant. Appellee was guaranteed that he would be hired by Appellant under the same terms as his previous contract. He was terminated only a few months later. He sued Appellants, who moved to dismiss, arguing there was a lack of personal jurisdiction. The lower court denied the motion. Determining whether there is personal jurisdiction is a two part inquiry. It must be determined whether the complaint alleges sufficient jurisdictional facts to bring the action within the ambit of Florida's long arm statute, section 48.193. If the allegations are within the ambit of the statute, it must then be determined whether the exercise of jurisdiction is consistent with due process. Under section 48.193, a person submits himself to the jurisdiction of this state by breaching a contract in this state by failing to perform acts required by the contract to be performed in this state. Here, Appellee argued he was owed payment for work he was to perform in Florida and he did perform in Florida. Therefore, the allegations supported a finding of personal jurisdiction. Appellants argued, however, that the trial court erred in not holding an evidentiary hearing to decide the jurisdiction issue. The appellate court found that, because the affidavit did not dispute the jurisdictional facts alleged in the complaint, the trial court was not required to hold an evidentiary hearing.
Topic(s)
