Appeals Regarding Personal Jurisdiction

 

In a matter where a commercial landlord sued its tenant’s personal guarantors as the result of the tenant’s breach of the lease, the guarantors moved to dismiss the lawsuit based on personal jurisdiction. Check here for more on this matter.

A trial court’s ruling on personal jurisdiction is an immediately appealable ruling–a trial court’s determination relating to personal jurisdiction is an immediately appealable non-final order (non-final order meaning the order does not finally dispose of the lawsuit). See Fla.R.App.P. 9.130(a)(3)(C)(i).

A determination on personal jurisdiction is an important issue. If a court grants a motion to dismiss based on lack of personal jurisdiction, this means you cannot sue that entity in that state, e.g., Florida. And, if a court denies a motion to dismiss based on lack of personal jurisdiction, this means the moving party is subject to a lawsuit in that state, e.g., Florida. For this reason, the determination is appealable. The moving party will want to appeal if the court denies its motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction and it is now subject to being sued in Florida. Conversely, the plaintiff (suing party) will want to appeal if the court grants the motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction and the plaintiff can no longer sue that party in Florida.

Please contact David Adelstein at [email protected] or (954) 361-4720 if you have questions or would like more information regarding this article. You can follow David Adelstein on Twitter @DavidAdelstein1.