Opinion ID: 1832071
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: the kinney doctrine

Text: In Kinney, this Court adopted the four-step analysis for forum non conveniens issues originally outlined in Gulf Oil Corp. v. Gilbert, 330 U.S. 501, 67 S.Ct. 839, 91 L.Ed. 1055 (1947), and currently codified in Florida Rule of Civil Procedure 1.061. [1] We said: As a prerequisite, the court must establish whether an adequate alternative forum exists which possesses jurisdiction over the whole case. [2] Next, the trial judge must consider all relevant factors of private interest, weighing in the balance a strong presumption against disturbing plaintiffs' initial forum choice. [3] If the trial judge finds this balance of private interest in equipoise [the advantages and disadvantages of the alternative forum will not significantly undermine or favor the private interests of any particular party, as compared with the forum in which suit was filed] or near equipoise, he must then determine whether or not factors of public interest tip the balance in favor of a trial in [another] forum. [4] If he decides that the balance favors such a... forum, the trial judge must finally ensure that plaintiffs can reinstate their suit in the alternative forum without undue inconvenience or prejudice. Kinney, 674 So.2d at 90 (quoting Pain v. United Technologies, Corp., 637 F.2d 775, 784-85 (D.C.Cir.1980), cert. denied, 454 U.S. 1128, 102 S.Ct. 980, 71 L.Ed.2d 116 (1981)) (some bracketed language added). The certified question concerns the first prong of the Kinney analysis which requires that an adequate forum exists with jurisdiction over the whole case. As the district court did implicitly, we equate the term whole case with a distinct cause of action. We have previously stated, Although no thoroughly satisfactory definition of a cause of action has been laid down by the authorities, it is generally conceded under the modern view that a cause of action is the right which a party has to institute a judicial proceeding. Shearn v. Orlando Funeral Home, Inc., 88 So.2d 591, 593 (Fla.1956). Other Florida courts have defined a cause of action as some particular legal right of plaintiff against defendant, together with some definite violation thereof which occasions loss or damage. Soowal v. Marden, 452 So.2d 625, 626 (Fla. 3d DCA 1984) (quoting Luckie v. McCall Mfg. Co., 153 So.2d 311, 314 (Fla. 1st DCA 1963)). While several causes of action may be joined in a single complaint, such joinder does not negate the fact that the plaintiff could have brought these claims in separate complaints. See Fla. R. Civil Proc. 1.110(g). The operative question is whether the same facts are necessary to prove each cause of action. See Cole v. First Development Corp. of America, 339 So.2d 1130 (Fla. 2d DCA 1976). The facts necessary to establish Bacardi's rights under the trust, the violation of those rights, and any ensuing damages as to each trust are not identical. In this case, Bacardi had two causes of action, one involving her rights and damages under the Cotorro Trust and the other involving her rights and damages under the Corniche Trust. She joined these two causes of action concerning the two separate trusts [2] in one complaint and named several defendants, claiming they had all participated in a conspiracy to defraud Bacardi of her interests in those trusts. [3] As to the Corniche trust, Bacardi charged the defendants fraudulently induced the grantor to amend the trust in order to terminate her monetary beneficial interest completely. As to the Cotorro trust, Bacardi alleged the defendants converted the trust assets thereby significantly reducing her original interest in the trust. The mere fact that Bacardi filed her claims involving each trust in the same complaint does not make the individual claims one cause of action. The two trusts were established in different places, for the benefit of different persons, with different primary and contingent beneficiaries. Bacardi herself has different rights and interests under each of the trusts. Of necessity, the facts which will prove or disprove her claims will also differ with each trust. Thus, under the facts of this case, the whole cause within the meaning of Kinney means the cause of action pertaining to each trust individually. Additionally, the first prong of the Kinney test also requires a determination that the defendant is amenable to process in another jurisdiction. See Kinney, 674 So.2d at 90; Gulf Oil Corp. v. Gilbert, 330 U.S. 501, 506-507, 67 S.Ct. 839, 91 L.Ed. 1055. The Fourth District Court of Appeal addressed this component in its decision in Smith Barney, Inc. v. Potter, 725 So.2d 1223 (Fla. 4th DCA 1999). In Smith Barney, four investors joined in a declaratory judgment action against national securities dealer Smith Barney, seeking a declaration that the arbitrators rather than the courts should determine whether their claims were time-barred. Three of the claimants were nonresidents. In analyzing this first prong of Kinney, the Fourth District relied on language from Kinney indicating an alternative forum is not truly alternative if the defendants are not amenable to service of process in that forum. As with the defendants in this case, the plaintiffs in Smith Barney made no argument that service on the defendants could not be perfected in the other forum. Additionally, in finding that these claims should have been dismissed in favor of a more convenient forum, the forum where the plaintiffs resided, the Fourth District emphasized that the claimants had little connection with Florida and that both private and public interests would be better served in a forum where the claimants had a residential connection. It is clear from the existence of ongoing litigation in both Cayman and Liechtenstein involving the same trusts that are at issue in the case before us that both the plaintiff and the defendants have appeared in those actions with service of process being perfected or agreed upon. The Fourth District Court of Appeal in Ciba-Geigy Ltd. v. Fish Peddler, Inc., 691 So.2d 1111 (Fla. 4th DCA 1997), was confronted with a situation similar to the case before us, [4] and reached a similar conclusion to that reached here. In Ciba-Geigy the Fourth District addressed a breach of contract suit filed in Florida against a Florida company by Ecuadoran companies based on torts that occurred in Ecuador. A Florida company, The Fish Peddler, sued one of its suppliers, The Pink Star, in Florida. The defendant then filed a third-party complaint against an Ecuadoran corporation, Lango Taura, S.A., for indemnification and breach of contract; Lango Taura was to supply Pink Star with shrimp, but was unable to do so as a result of the noncompliance of suppliers upon whom it depended. Lango Taura in turn sued several other corporations, including Ciba Geigy, for contribution, negligence, and products liability. Several other shrimp operations also sued Ciba Geigy as well as the other corporations sued by Lango Taura. These latter complaints charged that the chemicals manufactured by the Swiss and German companies were later used by banana growers in Ecuador and seeped into the rivers killing off the shrimp supply. In reversing the trial court's denial of defendants' forum non conveniens motion to dismiss, the Fourth District found the trial court improperly applied the Kinney factors giving a strong presumption to the plaintiff's choice of forum. The Fourth District ultimately found no identity of legal or factual issues between the contract action brought by Fish Peddler and Pink Star and the twenty-eight tort actions brought by the Ecuadoran shrimp farmers. It also found that the Ecuadoran shrimp farmers were only able to maintain Florida as their choice of forum because Lango-Taura, the Ecuadoran company that Pink Star had joined in a third-party complaint, stipulated to jurisdiction in Florida. While the trial court determined it would be more convenient for the parties to litigate all the claims in one country instead of two, the Fourth District differed. The Fourth District found the trial court had abused its discretion since the whole case involving the fish farmers could properly be brought in Ecuador, while the initial case between Fish Peddler and Pink Star, two Florida corporations, could be litigated in Florida. In the end, the Fourth District decided dismissal was proper although one of the parties, Lango-Taura, would likely need to litigate its claims in both Florida and Ecuador. In this case, respondents had already consented to jurisdiction or had been properly served in both the Cayman Islands and Liechtenstein, as evidenced by their prior involvement in the ongoing litigation in those two countries. The record shows that the litigation in both places concerned the same allegations of invalid, fraudulently obtained trust amendments and mishandling of trust assets raised in the complaint at the center of this suit. See, e.g., Kinney, 674 So.2d at 90. Bacardi relies on Madanes v. Madanes, 981 F.Supp. 241 (S.D.N.Y.1997), to support her argument that all of the claims should be heard in one forum. Such reliance is misplaced because this case differs in several respects. Madanes involved a family dispute between siblings, in which a sister alleged her brothers fraudulently diverted funds from family investments to which she had been named a beneficiary by her deceased father, a wealthy Argentinian businessman. Suit was filed against Madanes' brothers, the family attorney and other corporate defendants alleging Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) violations along with other New York common law and statutory claims. The complaint explicitly outlined numerous transactions that occurred between New York and Argentina and other countries in furtherance of the alleged fraudulent scheme. In Madanes, petitioner concretely supported her allegations of fraud and the need for a New York court to exert personal and subject matter jurisdiction over her complaint by describing in detail her brothers' activities in and through New York. As that court found, [T]he Complaint identifies the specific roles played by each Defendant, including, for instance, allegations that Miguel [a brother] directed Ortoli [the family attorney] regarding Swansea, [a Panamanian company formed by the decedent that invested several million dollars in a New York partnership that purchased real estate in New York; when this property was sold, the New York partnership diverted the funds to a secret account in Switzerland and never gave plaintiff her share], Pablo [another brother] set up Dolmy and Procida [Swiss accounts], and Leiser [another brother] participated in the scheme to defraud Ms. Madanes and caused the transmittal of wires and letters in furtherance of such scheme. The specific roles played by each corporate Defendant are also adequately delineated.... Madanes, 981 F.Supp. at 254. Ultimately, the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York denied respondents' forum non conveniens motions for dismissal. Unlike in Madanes, the connections between Bacardi and Florida, as well as the acts constituting the alleged fraud on the trusts and Florida, are tenuous at best. As the Third District found, both private and public interests would be best served by litigating the claims regarding each trust in their principal place of administration. [5] For these reasons, we uphold the trial court's severance of these claims under the Kinney doctrine. The claims relevant to the Cotorro trust, those related to the Corniche trust, and the malpractice claims against Attorney Lindzon are all separate causes of action which can be more appropriately litigated in the Cayman Islands, Liechtenstein, and Florida, respectively. Therefore, we answer the certified question in the negative.