Meier v. Sun International Hotels
United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
288 F.3d 1264 (2002)
- Written by Elizabeth Yingling, JD
Facts
While snorkeling in the Bahamas, Victor Meier was seriously injured by a motorboat and was flown to Miami, Florida, for medical treatment. Meier and his father and brother (collectively, Meier) (plaintiffs), all Utah residents, brought suit for negligence in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida against Sun International Hotels (Sun Hotels) and three of its Bahamian subsidiaries (collectively, Sun International) (defendants). Sun International owned hotels in the Bahamas, including the Atlantis Hotel and Casino (Atlantis), which did business with the corporate owner of the boat that injured Meier. Sun Hotels also owned several Florida subsidiaries that provided a variety of services to the Atlantis and to Sun Hotels’ Bahamian subsidiaries, such as coordinating advertising and reservations, providing accounting and collection services, and managing Sun International’s Florida bank accounts. Sun International moved to dismiss the case for lack of personal jurisdiction or, alternatively, for forum non conveniens. The district court granted the motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction, finding that general personal jurisdiction did not exist under either the Florida long-arm statute, which provided that an agent’s contacts with the forum could establish jurisdiction, or the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Restani, J.)
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