Case Name: Jeremy M. CARTER, Appellant, v. MARK I. GRUMET REVOCABLE TRUST DATED MAY 9, 2007, and Community 8 Properties, LLC, Appellees.
Court: District Court of Appeal of Florida, Fourth District
Jurisdiction: Florida
Decision Date: 2018-08-22
Citations: 252 So. 3d 276
Docket Number: No. 4D17-3817
Parties: Jeremy M. CARTER, Appellant,
v.
MARK I. GRUMET REVOCABLE TRUST DATED MAY 9, 2007, and Community 8 Properties, LLC, Appellees.
Judges: 
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Third Series
Volume: 252
Pages: 276–276

Head Matter:
Jeremy M. CARTER, Appellant,
v.
MARK I. GRUMET REVOCABLE TRUST DATED MAY 9, 2007, and Community 8 Properties, LLC, Appellees.
No. 4D17-3817
District Court of Appeal of Florida, Fourth District.
[August 22, 2018]
Jeremy M. Carter, Estill, South Carolina, pro se.
Dane T. Stanish of the Law Offices of Dane Stanish, P.A., Hollywood, for appellee Mark I. Grumet Revocable Trust.
Joseph J. Huss and Joshua J. Shore of Krinzman Huss & Lubetsky, Fort Lauderdale, for appellee Community 8 Properties, LLC.

Opinion:
Per Curiam.
Appellant appeals the trial court's order dismissing his complaint. He raises three issues on appeal, but we reverse on only one. Over the course of two years, appellant unsuccessfully tried to serve process on the defendants. Eventually, he resorted to service by publication, which the trial court quashed for being improper. The trial court then dismissed the complaint for failure to serve process despite appellant's pending motion to amend his complaint.
A trial court has no discretion to deny a plaintiff's first amendment to a complaint before a responsive pleading has been served. Boca Burger, Inc. v. Forum , 912 So.2d 561, 568 (Fla. 2005). Rather, a party is entitled to "amend a pleading once as a matter of course at any time before a responsive pleading is served ." Fla. R. Civ. P. 1.190(a). Because appellant had an absolute right to amend his complaint before a responsive pleading was served, the trial court erred in dismissing the action. See Boca Burger , 912 So.2d at 567. We therefore reverse and remand for the trial court to allow appellant to amend his complaint.
Affirmed in part, reversed in part, and remanded.
Taylor, Levine and Forst, JJ., concur.