PALMER, J.
Airamid Health Services, LLC n/k/a/ Airamid Health Consulting, LLC (Airamid Health) timely appeals the non-final order entered by the trial court summarily denying its motion to quash service and/or dismiss The Anita Sechler Family Trust's (Trust) complaint for lack of personal jurisdiction. Because the trial court erred in failing to conduct an evidentiary hearing, we reverse.
Trust filed a lawsuit against several defendants, alleging that Anita Sechler sustained injuries during her residency at Evergreen Woods (Nursing Home). Airamid Health, a Delaware limited liability company, is the only defendant involved in this appeal. In its complaint, Trust alleged the following jurisdictional facts:
Airamid Health moved to quash service and/or dismiss the complaint for lack of personal jurisdiction. To support the motion, Airamid Health submitted an affidavit by Debra Howe, an officer of Airamid Health. The affidavit states, in relevant part, the following:
In response, Trust submitted deposition testimony of Howe (which had been submitted in other nursing home actions), as well as Airamid Health's corporate filings in Florida. These documents indicated that Howe provided testimony in her affidavit which contradicted her deposition testimony since, in her deposition, Howe stated that Airamid Health is the managing member or manager of two resident subsidiaries, Airamid Health maintains its principal place of business in Florida, and Airamid Health applied for and received authorization to transact business in Florida.
The trial court summarily denied Airamid Health's motion to quash service and/or dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction. This appeal timely followed.
Airamid Health contends that the trial court erred in denying its motion to quash service and/or dismiss the complaint for lack of personal jurisdiction because Trust has not sufficiently established that personal jurisdiction is proper over Airamid Health. We agree.
A ruling on a motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction is reviewed
Establishing jurisdiction over a nonresident defendant is a two-part process. First, the complaint must allege sufficient jurisdictional facts to bring the nonresident defendant within the ambit of Florida's long arm statute. Section 48.193, Florida Statutes, provides the following ways to obtain jurisdiction over a nonresident person:
§ 48.193(1)(a)1.-2.; (2), Fla. Stat. (2012).
Second, the court must determine whether the defendant has sufficient minimum contacts with Florida in order to satisfy constitutional due process. Int'l Shoe Co. v. State of Wash., 326 U.S. 310, 316 (1945);
A defendant challenging the jurisdictional allegations in a complaint or raising a contention of insufficient minimum contacts must file an affidavit in support of his position. Clement, 999 So. 2d at 1075; Doe, 620 So. 2d at 1005 (citing Venetian Salami, 554 So. 2d at 500). If the affidavit fully refutes the complaint's jurisdictional allegations, the burden then shifts to the plaintiff to show, by counter-affidavit or other evidence,
In the instant case, Airamid Health does not argue that Trust failed to allege sufficient jurisdictional facts to bring Airamid Health within the ambit of the long arm statute, but instead, argues that Trust failed to refute the jurisdictional challenge presented in its affidavit. However, the certified transcripts of Howe's deposition testimony in the other nursing home actions directly contradicted the statements that Howe made in Airamid Health's affidavit. Additionally, Trust submitted two sets of corporate documents that Howe filed in Florida on behalf of Airamid Health. Trust noted that all state business filings are filed under penalty of perjury pursuant to section 608.408, Florida Statutes. The first set of corporate filings showed that Airamid Health applied to transact business in Florida and that Airamid Health is the "managing member or manager" of a resident subsidiary, Airamid Health Management, LLC. In each of these filings, Airamid Health listed a Florida address as its "principal office" and "usual place of business." The second set of filings showed that Airamid Health is the managing member or manager of another resident subsidiary, Airamid Financial Services, LLC, and that the resident subsidiary was authorized to transact business in Florida. These filings show not only that the resident subsidiaries maintain their "usual place of business" in Florida, but also that the address for the resident subsidiaries is the same address as the nonresident parent, Airamid Health.
Trust concedes that Howe submitted an errata sheet, in which she stated that the information that she received from corporate counsel made it necessary for her to change her deposition answers. Consequently, those changes contradicted her sworn testimony. Howe also stated that the Florida business addresses for Airamid Health were inaccurate and the corporate documents were inadvertently filed. Trust notes that, in spite of Howe's assertion that the Florida addresses were inadvertently filed, Airamid Health's Florida address is currently reported as "active" by the Florida State Division of Corporations.
Given the contradictory evidence existing in the record, the trial court was required to conduct a limited evidentiary hearing to determine whether Trust met its burden of proving jurisdiction over Airamid Health.
REVERSED and REMANDED.
EVANDER and BERGER, JJ., concur.
NOT FINAL UNTIL TIME EXPIRES TO FILE MOTION FOR REHEARING AND DISPOSITION THEREOF IF FILED.