03-1123 WEDGE HOTEL V. MEIER

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State: Florida

Court: Florida Third District Court

Docket No: 03-1123 WEDGE HOTEL V. MEIER

Case Date: 01/14/2004

Preview:NOT FINAL UNTIL TIME EXPIRES TO FILE REHEARING MOTION AND, IF FILED, DISPOSED OF.

IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL OF FLORIDA THIRD DISTRICT JANUARY TERM, A.D. 2004

WEDGE HOTEL MANAGEMENT, (BAHAMAS), LTD., Appellant, vs. VICTOR A. MEIER, etc., et al., Appellees.

** ** ** ** ** ** CASE NO. 3D03-1123 LOWER TRIBUNAL NO. 01-12853

Opinion filed January 14, 2004. An Appeal from a non-final order of the Circuit Court for Miami-Dade County, Jennifer Bailey, Judge. Wilson, Elser, Moskowitz, Edelman & Dicker and R. Layton Mank and Suzanne Brown-Vazquez, for appellant. Stearns Weaver Miller Weissler Alhadeff & Sitterson and Alan H. Fein and Joy Spillis Lundeen and Matthew W. Buttrick, for appellees.

Before FLETCHER, RAMIREZ, and SHEPHERD, JJ. PER CURIAM. Wedge Hotel Management ("Wedge") appeals from an order denying

its

motion

to

dismiss

based

on

the

doctrine

of

forum

non

conveniens.

We affirm.

This case arises from a tragic boating accident in the Bahamas in which the plaintiff's right arm was severed. The plaintiff

filed claims against several defendants, including Wedge, the appellant herein.1 2001. Service was effected upon Wedge on June 15, That motion

On July 9, 2001, Wedge filed a Motion to Quash.

was denied on March 5, 2002.

On May 6, 2002, Wedge filed a motion

to dismiss for forum non conveniens. Wedge appeals from the denial of that motion. Because the motion to dismiss for forum non

conveniens was untimely, we affirm. Florida Rule of Civil Procedure 1.061(g) provides that "[a] motion to dismiss based on forum non conveniens shall be served not later than 60 days after service of process on the moving party." Here, although service was effected upon Wedge on June 15, 2001, Wedge's motion to dismiss for forum non conveniens was not filed until May 6, 2002, well past the sixty day time limit of 1.061(g). As Wedge's motion was untimely under the plain language of

1.061(g), we need not address the merits of the arguments raised in the motion. We are unpersuaded by Wedge's contention that its July 9, 2002, Motion to Quash tolled the sixty-day forum non conveniens We refrain from setting out the extensive procedural history of this case, as doing so is unnecessary to reach the issue currently before us. 2
1

filing period.

Tolling the filing period does nothing to promote

the interests that the doctrine of forum non conveniens seeks to preserve, which includes avoiding a waste of resources, Kinney Systems, Inc., v. Continental Ins. Co., 674 So. 2d 86, 94 (Fla. 1996), and merely serves to encourage the filing of unnecessarily successive motions. should file an In complying with Rule 1.061, a defendant motion to dismiss for forum non

alternative

conveniens contemporaneously with the filing of a motion to quash service of process.2 Accordingly, the order denying Wedge's motion to dismiss for forum non conveniens is affirmed.

Of course, even if not filed simultaneously with a motion to quash, the motion to dismiss for forum non conveniens is still timely so long as it is filed within sixty days of service of process on the moving party. 3

2

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