Case Name: STATE ex rel. WEBER et ux. v. REGISTER, Judge et al.
Court: Florida Supreme Court
Jurisdiction: Florida
Decision Date: 1953-10-13
Citations: 67 So. 2d 619
Docket Number: 
Parties: STATE ex rel. WEBER et ux. v. REGISTER, Judge et al.
Judges: ROBERTS, C. J., and TERRELL and MATHEWS, JJ., concur.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 67
Pages: 619–626

Head Matter:
STATE ex rel. WEBER et ux. v. REGISTER, Judge et al.
Supreme Court of Florida. En Banc.
Oct. 13, 1953.
W. P. Allen, Bartow, for petitioners.
Surles & Trawick, Lakeland, for respondents.

Opinion:
HOBSON, Justice.
A rule nisi in prohibition was heretofore issued by this Court on the petition of Don L. Weber and wife, alleging that the Circuit Court in and for Polk County had no jurisdiction of their persons and was therefore without jurisdiction to proceed in a cause pending therein in which Weber and wife were named as defendants. The respondents have now answered, setting forth that under Section 47.16, Florida Statutes, F.S.A., the Secretary of State was authorized to accept service of process upon nonresidents doing business in the State of Florida and that service of process was had upon the petitioners, as authorized by the statute in question.
Section 47.16, supra, relates to nonresident persons or corporations who "operate, conduct, engage in, or carry on a business or business venture, in the State of Florida" and provides, in effect, for service upon such nonresidents by the service of process on the Secretary of State of Florida "in any action, suit or proceeding against them arising out of any transaction or operation connected with or incidental to such business or business venture ."
It appears from the original complaint that the Webers had purchased an orange grove in this State and that they had conducted and operated the same as a business in Polk County, Florida. The Webers were nonresidents of the State of Florida. M. R. Driver, the plaintiff below and one of the respondents here, was licensed as a real estate broker and acted as such in Polk County. The Webers, while owning and operating the grove, listed it with Driver for sale and, it is alleged, agreed to pay him a commission of 5 per cent of the purchase price when Driver should produce a purchaser ready, willing and able to buy on the terms specified by the Webers. Driver claimed that he performed his part of the contract and was entitled to a commission of $2,000 upon an agreed purchase price of $40,000.
It is Driver's theory that the Webers were engaged in the business of owning and operating a citrus grove and that the listing of the property for sale with Driver was incidental to the operation of the business. Driver here contends that this was sufficient as a basis to obtain substituted personal service on the Webers, as authorized by Section 47.16, supra.
Although we do not agree that the listing of the grove property for sale was a "transaction or operation connected with or incidental to" the business in which petitioners were engaged in this State, to wit: the maintenance and operation of a citrus grove, we believe that the allegations of the complaint filed by Mr. Driver demonstrate clearly that the purchase of the property and the subsequent listing of the same for sale amounted to engaging in a "business venture" as contemplated by our statute.
There is a vast difference between the words "a business" and the words "business venture" as used in Section 47.16, supra. One may engage in a "business venture" without operating, conducting, engaging in or carrying on "a business." The listing of the grove for sale is proof of the fact that the purchase thereof was a "business venture." Moreover, the act of listing the property for sale amounted to a transaction "connected with or incidental to" the "business venture" which the Web-ers initiated when they acquired the grove.
Petitioners contend that if Section 47.16, F.S.A., is held to be applicable to, and the service under said section was properly had upon, then the act is unconstitutional in that it denies unto them due process and equal protection of the law. They insist that the business or business venture engaged in must, in order for Section 47.16, supra, to be constitutional, be a business or business venture involving hazard, health or similar matters which may be regulated under the police power of the State.
Respondents take the position that the statute under consideration applies to all nonresidents who engage in a business or business venture in this State; that the act affords due process and does not do violence to the privilege and immunities clause or the equal protection clause of the Federal Constitution, Amend. 14; art. 4, § 2.
The Supreme Court of the United States m the case of Pennoyer v. Neff, 1877, 95 U.S. 714, 24 L.Ed. 565, recognized the rights of the several states to pass legislation of this type. We quote from that case:
"Neither do we mean to assert that a State may not require a non-resident entering into a partnership or association within its limits, or making contracts enforceable there, to appoint an agent or representative in the State to receive service of process and notice in legal proceedings instituted with respect to such partnership, association, or contracts, or to designate a place where such service may 'be made and notice given, and provide, upon their failure, to make such appointment or to designate such place that service may be made upon a public officer designated for that purpose, or in some other prescribed way, and that judgment rendered upon such service may not be binding upon the nonresidents both within and without the State." (Emphasis supplied.)
Respondents rely upon the foregoing announcement of the Supreme Court of the United States and further cite as authority for their position: Davidson v. Henry L. Doherty & Co., 214 Iowa 739, 241 N.W. 700, 91 A.L.R. 1308; Hess v. Pawloski, 274 U.S. 352, 47 S.Ct. 632, 71 L.Ed. 1091; Sugg v. Hendrix, 5 Cir., 142 F.2d 740; Fielding v. Superior Court, etc., of San Francisco, 111 Cal.App.2d 490, 244 P.2d 968; International Shoe Co. v. Washington, 326 U.S. 310, 66 S.Ct. 154, 90 L.Ed. 95, 161 A.L.R. 1057; Gillioz v. Kincannon, Judge, 213 Ark 1010, 214 S.W.2d 212; Miller v. Swann, 176 Misc. 607, 28 N.Y.S.2d 247; Simon v. Craft, 182 U.S. 427, 21 S.Ct. 836, 45 L.Ed. 1165; State ex rel. Woods-Young Co. v. Tedder, 103 Fla. 1083, 138 So. 643; Condon v. Snipes, 205 Miss. 306, 38 So.2d 752, and other cases.
We are constrained to the view that petitioners engaged in a business venture within the State of Florida when they made a contract with respondent Driver in and by which they employed him as a real estate broker to find a person, or persons, ready, able and willing to purchase the citrus grove owned by petitioners in this State which contract is enforceable in this jurisdiction.
One of the major purposes of our constitutional provisions, F.S.A.Const. Declaration of Rights, § 12, which guarantees "due process" is to make certain that when a person is sued he has notice of the suit and an opportunity to defend. The Webers do not contend that they did not receive notice of the pending suit. In fact, it is patent that they did receive such notice and now have an opportunity to defend in the same territorial jurisdiction in which they purchased, operated and listed for sale, the grove.
Consequently, we conclude that Section 47.16, supra, is constitutional in that it acts alike upon all nonresidents who engage in business or a business venture in this State and it is not repugnant to the privileges and immunities clause or the equal protection clause of the Federal Constitution. Nor does the said statute violate the due process clause of either the Federal or State Constitution. As was stated in the case of International Shoe Co. v. Washington, 326 U.S. 310, 66 S.Ct. 154, 158, 90 L. Ed. 95, 161 A.L.R. 1057:
" due process requires only that in order to subject a defendant to a judgment in personam, if he be not present within the territory of the forum, he have certain minimum contacts with it sitch that the maintenance of the suit does not offend 'traditional notions of fair play and substantial justice.' "
We hold that service was and is valid and the rule in prohibition is hereby quashed and discharged.
ROBERTS, C. J., and TERRELL and MATHEWS, JJ., concur.
THOMAS, J., agrees to discharge of writ of prohibition.
SEBRING and DREW, JJ., dissent.