Depending on the circumstances, a nonresident foreign corporation’s travel to or email or business call into Florida may be treated as conducting business in the state such that the corporation may be amenable to suit in Florida.
Florida’s Long-Arm Statute, section 48.193, Florida Statutes, provides that a court can obtain personal jurisdiction over a foreign corporation when the corporation operates, conducts, engages in, or carries on a business or a business venture in Florida or when it has an office or agent in Florida. Personal jurisdiction may be based on either specific acts connected to the case being sued upon or general acts, unrelated to the subject litigation, that establish the foreign corporation is doing business in Florida. While the activities of the nonresident are considered collectively and must show a general course of business activity in the state for pecuniary benefit, a nonresident corporation (and its agents) should be aware that certain contacts within the state can be raised as a basis for personal jurisdiction under the statute. (The determination of whether jurisdiction is proper under Florida’s Long-Arm Statute is separate from the inquiry of whether a Florida court’s exercise of personal jurisdiction over the foreign corporation comports with the Due Process Clause of the U.S. Constitution.)
