2-1 Introduction

• Jurisdiction: United States

2-1 Introduction

A Florida legal malpractice action is subject to the usual jurisdictional,¹ choice-of-law,² and choice-of-forum rules.³ When the defendant is a non-Florida lawyer, this means that the plaintiff must: (1) comply with Florida's long-arm statute and (2) demonstrate that the lawsuit does not offend due process.⁴

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Notes:

^[1] Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Fla. v. Lewis, 165 So. 3d 9 (Fla. 3d Dist. Ct. App. 2015) (Indian tribe could bring malpractice action against its former lawyers in Florida state court notwithstanding its plan to rely on tribal law as a defense). A Florida state court can hear a legal malpractice action even if the underlying action could only be brought in federal court. Gunn v. Minton, 568 U.S. 251 (2013) (state court could hear legal malpractice case arising from alleged mishandling of patent lawsuit). See also McMillan v. UAW-Ford Legal Servs. Plan, 2011 WL 862047 (M.D. Fla. 2011) (state court could hear legal malpractice claim notwithstanding that attorney's alleged negligence arose in connection with advice about federal law). Similarly, a legal malpractice claim can be pursued in federal court if both personal and subject matter jurisdiction exist. See, e.g., Diaz v. Sheppard, 85 F.3d 1502 (11th Cir.), reh'g and reh'g en banc denied, 99 F.3d 1157 (11th Cir. 1996), cert. denied, 520 U.S. 1162 (1997) (federal jurisdiction absent); Pierson v. Rogow, 589 F. App'x 499 (11th Cir. 2014), cert. denied, 136 S. Ct. 416 (2015), reh'g denied, 136 S. Ct. 882 (2016) (federal jurisdiction absent); Nova Cas. Co. v. Santa Lucia, 2010 WL 3942875 (M.D. Fla. 2010) (federal jurisdiction present); Innes v. Geico Gen. Ins. Co., 2014 WL 1456350 (M.D. Fla. 2014) (federal jurisdiction absent); Harvey v. Geico Gen. Ins. Co., 2014 WL 3828434 (S.D. Fla. 2014) (federal jurisdiction absent); Jimenez v. Henry, 2014 WL 3867799 (M.D. Fla. 2014) (federal jurisdiction absent); Makozy v. Internal Revenue Service, 2018 WL 6978696 (S.D. Fla.), report and recommendation adopted, 2018 WL 6978630 (S.D. Fla. 2018) (federal jurisdiction absent).

^[2] OKeefe v. Darnell, 192 F. Supp. 2d 1351 (M.D. Fla. 2002) (Kansas law); Bravo v. Honigman Miller Schwartz and Cohn LLP, 2008 WL 384435 (M.D. Fla.), reconsideration denied and motion to certify appeal granted, 2008 WL 697380 (M.D. Fla. 2008) (Michigan law); Platypus Wear, Inc. v. Clarke Modet & Co., S.L., 2008 WL 2557503 (S.D. Fla.), report and recommendation adopted in part, 2008 WL 2761300 (S.D. Fla. 2008)...