Northwestern Aircraft Capital Corp. v. Stewart
Florida District Court of Appeal
842 So. 2d 190 (2003)
- Written by Liz Nakamura, JD
Facts
Northwestern Aircraft Capital Corporation (Northwestern) (defendant), a charter aircraft business, advertised to Florida residents, operated charter flights to and from Florida, and engaged in aircraft sale and maintenance contracts in Florida. In October 1999, four passengers and two pilots (collectively, the decedents) died on a Northwestern charter flight because of an aircraft malfunction. The charter flight took off from Florida, malfunctioned in Florida, and the decedents perished before exiting Florida airspace. The estates of the decedents (collectively, the estates) (plaintiffs) brought a wrongful-death action against Northwestern. The estates claimed both specific- and general-personal-jurisdiction over Northwestern, a nonresident corporation, arguing that the nexus between the wrongful-death action and Northwestern’s business activities in Florida was sufficient to satisfy both Florida’s long-arm statute and the constitutional minimum-contacts standard. Northwestern moved to dismiss, arguing that the estates failed to allege sufficient jurisdictional facts to support Florida’s exercise of personal jurisdiction. The trial court held that it had personal jurisdiction over Northwestern. Northwestern appealed.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Sawaya, J.)
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