Haueter-Herranz v. Romero
| Decision Date | 18 January 2008 |
| Docket Number | No. 2D05-5995.,No. 2D05-5686.,2D05-5686.,2D05-5995. |
| Parties | Mari HAUETER-HERRANZ, Alexander Cole International Holdings Ltd., a Bahamian corporation, U.S. Stox Capital Management, Inc., a Florida corporation, and Happy Real Estate, Inc., a dissolved Florida corporation, Appellants, v. Agustin Miguel Torres ROMERO, Maria Luz Francisco Fuente, Julio Acebes Gonzalez, Antonio Parro Martin, Luis Alfonso Castelao Medina, Ignacio Bermejo Messeguer, Rafael Salado Osuna, Josep Aulinas Sacrest, Alejandro Miguel Eced, Alvaro Perez Blas, Ana Maria Matas Jimenez, Carlos Sanchez Cortes, and Jose Luis Torrico Bautista, Appellees. Markus Haueter, Mari Haueter-Herranz, Alexander Cole International Holdings Ltd., a Bahamian corporation, Rocko Holdings Corporation, a Bahamian corporation, U.S. Stox Capital Management, Inc., a Florida corporation, and Happy Real Estate, Inc., a dissolved Florida corporation, Appellants. v. Francisco Rodrigo Roncero, Antoni Burguera Brunet, Antonio Munoz Alzamora, Miguel Angel Piano Palomo, Mario Sanchez Velasco, Jose Romero Villanueva, Jesus Menendez Menendez, Jose Luis Fernandez Galan, Roman Sanchez Mateu, Juan Vila Roset, Maria Carmen Astizaran Bilbao, Javier Alonso Marmol, Javier Casielles Perez, Emilia Luisa Lafuente Carrion, Tomas Carrasco Almazan, Juan Manuel Garcia Velasco, Guillermo Sanz Vidal, Manuel Bravo Sanchez, Joan Noguerola Serra, Alicia Torrecillas Casado, Elisa Maria Herrera Trujillo, and Adrian Badia Villas, Appellees. |
| Court | Florida District Court of Appeals |
Robert L. Donald of Law Office of Robert L. Donald, Fort Myers, and Sonja K. Burkard of Burkard Law Firm, P.A., Fort Myers (withdrew after briefing); Scott A. Kuhn of Kuhn Law Firm, P.A., Fort Myers (substituted as counsel of record), for Appellants.
Renee Adwar of Renee Adwar, P.A., Miami, and Elisa Worthington of Garvin & Tripp, P.A., Ft. Myers, for Appellees.
In this consolidated appeal from two underlying actions, the appellants challenge the trial court's nonfinal orders denying their motions to dismiss and to quash service of process. We reverse the orders denying the motions to quash as to Alexander Cole International Holdings Ltd. (Cole) and as to Rocko Holdings Corporation (Rocko). In all other respects, we affirm.
The appellees, a group of thirty-five Spanish citizens (hereinafter the Investors), sued the appellants with respect to investment transactions the appellants had allegedly solicited from the Investors through fraud and other misconduct. The allegations in the two lawsuits are virtually the same, although the named plaintiffs differ in each lawsuit. The Investors asserted claims for fraudulent inducement, fraud, conspiracy to defraud, rescission, and an accounting. Mari Haueter-Herranz (Ms. Haueter), Cole, U.S. Stox Capital Management, Inc. (Stox), and Happy Real Estate, Inc. (Happy) are defendants in circuit court case numbers 05-1087 and 05-1101, and Markus Haueter (Mr. Haueter) and Rocko are defendants only in circuit court case number 05-1101. The Haueters, Stox, and Happy filed motions to dismiss the lawsuits, and Cole and Rocko filed motions to quash service of process.
On appeal, the Haueters, Stox, and Happy raise several issues, arguing that the trial court erred in denying their motions to dismiss. Because they have not demonstrated any reversible error, we affirm the denial of their motions but address certain of their arguments.
Rocko argues that the trial court erred in finding that the Investors properly served it by serving Mr. Haueter as that company's director. Cole argues that the trial court erred in finding that the Investors properly served it by serving Ms. Haueter as that company's vice president. Both of these arguments have merit, requiring reversal.
The Haueters, Stox, and Happy argue that the Investors cannot aggregate their claims to establish the jurisdictional threshold in the underlying cases. See State ex rel. City of West Palm Beach v. Chillingworth, 100 Fla. 489, 129 So. 816, 818 (1930) (); see also Johnson v. Plantation Gen. Hosp. Ltd. P'ship, 641 So.2d 58, 60 (Fla.1994) (following Chillingworth). However, they have not established that aggregation is the only manner in which the Investors can meet the jurisdictional threshold.
Section 26.012(2)(a), Florida Statutes (2005), provides that the circuit courts have exclusive, original jurisdiction over "all actions at law not cognizable by the county courts." The county courts have original jurisdiction over matters in which the amount in controversy does not exceed $15,000, and the circuit courts have jurisdiction over those matters in which the amount in controversy exceeds $15,000. §§ 26.012(2)(a), 34.01(1)(c), Fla. Stat. (2005).
In circuit court case number 05-1087, thirteen plaintiffs (constituting a portion of the Investors) filed an action for damages in excess of $15,000. They alleged that they transferred over $200,000 to Cole's bank account and that certain of the appellants absconded with the funds. In circuit court case number 05-1101, twenty-two plaintiffs (constituting the remaining portion of the Investors) filed an action for damages in excess of $15,000. They alleged that they transferred approximately one million dollars to Rocko and Cole and that the appellants absconded with the funds.
Ms. Haueter, Stox, and Happy filed motions to dismiss in both cases,1 and Mr. Haueter filed a motion to dismiss in case number 05-1101. The motions asserted that the trial court lacked subject matter jurisdiction in both cases because it appeared each individual plaintiff's claim was less than $15,000. In her motion to dismiss in case number 05-1087, Ms. Haueter also asserted that "[t]he complaint referred to Plaintiffs composite Exhibit 3 reflecting the individual transfers sent by Plaintiffs." She claimed that the exhibit "contains hard to read copies of money transfers in Spanish language which seem to show that each individual Plaintiff seemed to have transferred funds below the jurisdictional amount."2
Mr. Haueter's motion to dismiss was less explicit than Ms. Haueter's motion. He merely argued that the complaint in case number 05-1101 does not contain a statement or exhibit proving the amount of the individual money transfers on behalf of the individual investors. However, he does not suggest that any of the individual investors cannot meet the $15,000 jurisdictional threshold or claim that their general jurisdictional allegations are in bad faith.
The trial court denied the motions to dismiss, finding that "Plaintiffs have properly and in good faith pled in their complaint the jurisdictional amount appropriate for Circuit Court Jurisdiction." We agree.
Jurisdiction of the circuit court depends on the good faith allegations of the plaintiffs, not on the trial court's preliminary determination of the amount which they may actually recover. The rule for "determining the jurisdiction of a court as to the amount involved is the amount claimed in good faith."
Grunewald v. Warren, 655 So.2d 1227, 1229 (Fla. 1st DCA 1995) (citations omitted). "[T]he valuation fixed by the pleadings is to be accepted as true if made in good faith and not for the illusory purpose of conferring jurisdiction." Neumann v. Brigman, 475 So.2d 1247, 1249 (Fla. 2d DCA 1985). Any ambiguity with respect to satisfying the jurisdictional amount should be resolved in favor of the plaintiff. See id.
The Investors adequately alleged that the amount in controversy is sufficient to confer subject matter jurisdiction in the trial court. The Haueters, Stox, and Happy have not demonstrated that any individual investor is claiming damages below the jurisdictional threshold, that the allegations were made in bad faith, or that jurisdiction could only exist through the aggregation of individual claims. Further, Ms. Haueter's argument in case number 05-1087 is based on a document that she acknowledges is unclear and difficult to read. The document is not sufficient to controvert the Investors' jurisdictional allegations, and the record otherwise does not reflect that any individual investor did not in good faith plead a claim for damages in excess of $15,000. Accordingly, we find no reversible error with respect to the jurisdictional amount.
The Investors alleged in the trial court that the Haueters are Florida residents, that the Haueters and others engaged in acts of fraud and other misconduct, that the misconduct "was conceived, organized, and executed from Florida," and that "Florida is where the illegal activity was conducted." In challenging personal jurisdiction the Haueters filed affidavits denying that they had engaged in any misconduct, that they had undertaken any acts in relation to the Investors and the alleged investments, or that they had acted on behalf of others. Mr. Haueter acknowledged that he resides with his wife and children in Palm Beach County. However, he asserted, among other things, that he is a citizen of Switzerland, he resides in Florida on a non-immigrant visa, and he does not consider himself to be a legal resident of Florida because he has no intention of making Florida his permanent place of abode. Ms. Haueter admitted that she resides in Palm Beach County in a home that she purchased in January 2005. However, she asserted that she is a citizen of Spain and Switzerland but resides in Florida on a non-immigrant visa and did not intend to stay in Florida indefinitely.
On appeal, the Haueters argue that the trial court cannot exercise long-arm jurisdiction over them. They acknowledge that they reside in Florida but contend that a Florida court cannot...
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