Doe v. Thompson
Florida Supreme Court
620 So. 2d 1004 (1993)
- Written by Liz Nakamura, JD
Facts
Jere Thompson (defendant), a Texas resident, was the chief executive officer (CEO) of Southland Corporation, which owned and operated convenience stores in Florida. Jane Doe (plaintiff) worked as a clerk at one of Southland’s Florida convenience stores. Doe was sexually assaulted while working alone one night. Doe sued Thompson for gross negligence, arguing that Thompson failed to take reasonable measures to ensure worker safety. Doe claimed personal jurisdiction over Thompson under Florida’s long-arm statute. Thompson moved to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction, arguing that he did not commit any acts in his personal capacity, as opposed to in his capacity as Southland’s CEO, that met the jurisdictional requirements of Florida’s long-arm statute. The trial court ruled that it had personal jurisdiction over Thompson. Thompson appealed. The appellate court reversed, holding that Florida’s long-arm statute only applied to nonresident defendants who committed qualifying actions in their individual capacity. Doe appealed to the Florida Supreme Court.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Shaw, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 811,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,300 briefs, keyed to 988 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.
