Janet Thorpe, as Personal Representative of the Estate of Jennifer Palmer v. Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, Sam Sunghyun Yoon, M.D., and Sinchun Hwang, M.D.

Summary

The Florida Sixth District Court of Appeal affirmed dismissal of a medical-malpractice action for lack of personal jurisdiction over Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and two New York physicians. The court held that the alleged out-of-state medical acts causing injury in Florida did not establish jurisdiction under sections 48.193(1)(a)2. or 48.193(1)(a)6. of Florida's long-arm statute. The court certified conflict with Dean v. Johns regarding whether an out-of-state physician's preparation of a written medical report constitutes processing, servicing, or manufacturing a thing under section 48.193(1)(a)6.b.

Holdings

1. The complaint did not establish jurisdiction under section 48.193(1)(a)6.a. because the alleged medical services, testing, and report writing occurred in New York; later use of the records or payment of bills in Florida did not transform those New York activities into service activities within Florida. The complaint also failed to allege the statute's required temporal connection between the Florida service activity and the injury.
2. The complaint did not establish jurisdiction under section 48.193(1)(a)6.b. because it failed to allege the required temporal connection between the use in Florida and the injury, and writing a medical report does not constitute processing, servicing, or manufacturing the report within the ordinary meaning of those terms.
3. Mere injury in Florida resulting from a defendant's tortious act committed wholly outside Florida is insufficient to confer personal jurisdiction under section 48.193(1)(a)2. The statute requires the commission of the tortious act itself within Florida.
4. The complaint did not establish jurisdiction based on communications into Florida because it did not allege that the written reports were sent or directed into Florida, did not specify the nature or location of Dr. Yoon's alleged contact with Florida providers, and did not allege that the communications themselves constituted the tortious acts giving rise to the cause of action.
5. Because the appellant failed to plead a basis for jurisdiction under Florida's long-arm statute, the court did not need to consider affidavits or reach the constitutional minimum-contacts prong.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the second amended complaint alleged sufficient facts to establish long-arm jurisdiction over Dr. Yoon and Dr. Hwang under Florida Statutes section 48.193(1)(a)6.a.
2. Whether the second amended complaint alleged sufficient facts to establish long-arm jurisdiction under Florida Statutes section 48.193(1)(a)6.b.
3. Whether out-of-state medical acts causing injury felt in Florida constitute committing a tortious act within Florida under Florida Statutes section 48.193(1)(a)2.
4. Whether communications allegedly directed into Florida established personal jurisdiction under section 48.193(1)(a)2.
5. Whether the doctors' alleged jurisdictional contacts could establish personal jurisdiction over Memorial Sloan-Kettering through agency principles.
6. Whether the court needed to reach the constitutional minimum-contacts inquiry after the complaint failed to satisfy the statutory long-arm-jurisdiction prong.

Disposition

affirmed