3-2 Connection Between Injury and Forum

• Jurisdiction: United States

3-2 Connection Between Injury and Forum

Generally speaking, a plaintiff's venue choice is to be respected.² However, the plaintiff must be able to demonstrate a connection between his or her injury and the forum.³

Moscowitz v. Odlham⁴ held that a legal malpractice case was improperly filed in Brevard County.⁵ The underlying suit, in a federal court in Orange County, named as defendants Oldham and a Tennessee corporation he controlled. Oldham retained both a Virginia law firm and a Miami lawyer to represent him.

After a default judgment was entered against him for failing to file a responsive pleading, Oldham met in Brevard County with a lawyer from the Virginia law firm. During the meeting he was directed to sign a false affidavit and then prepped for the hearing to set aside the default. These activities were deemed insufficient to create venue in Brevard County for the legal malpractice action because "the complaint does not allege that the entry of the default judgment was caused by any of the improper acts committed"⁶ during the meeting in Brevard County.

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Notes:

^[2] Navas v. Brand, 130 So. 3d 766 (Fla. 3d Dist. Ct. App. 2014) (denying forum non conveniens motion seeking to move case against Costa Rican l awyers from Florida to Costa Rica). But see Frankel v. McDonough, 2010 WL 3222498 (S.D. Fla. 2010) (legal malpractice action transferred from Florida to New York because most of the evidence was in New York and action could have been filed in New York).

^[3] Bacardi v. De Lindzon, 728 So. 2d 309 (Fla. 3d Dist. Ct. App.), review granted, 743 So. 2d 11 (Fla. 1999), decision approved, 845 So. 2d 33 (Fla. 2002) (non-Florida plaintiff who had claims against both a Florida attorney and a non-Florida attorney for l egal malpractice could sue the former, but not the latter, in Florida).

^[4] Moscowitz v. Oldham, 48 So. 3d 136 (Fla. 5th Dist. Ct. App. 2010).

^[5] Moscowitz v. Oldham, 48 So. 3d 136, 137 (Fla. 5th Dist. Ct. App. 2010).

^[6] Moscowitz v. Oldham, 48 So. 3d 136, 138 (Fla. 5th...