PALACE RESORTS TRAVEL, INC., ET AL.,
v.
CECILIA J. FLYNN,
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The appellate court affirmed the trial court's denial of a motion to dismiss a personal injury lawsuit based on forum non conveniens. The court found no abuse of discretion in the trial court's decision, upholding the plaintiff's choice of forum.
No, the trial court did not abuse its discretion in denying the motion to dismiss. The defendants failed to meet their high burden of showing that their interests outweighed the strong presumption in favor of the plaintiff's chosen forum, and public interest factors did not tip the balance in favor of Mexico.
[1] A trial court's denial of a motion to dismiss based on forum non conveniens is reviewed for an abuse of discretion.
[2] A defendant seeking dismissal on forum non conveniens grounds bears a high burden to show that their interests outweigh the plaintiff's strong presumption in favor of the…
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“Because we agree with the analysis of the trial court’s detailed denial order, we affirm.”
States the court's agreement with the lower court's reasoning and the ultimate decision to affirm.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceCecilia J. Flynn, a U.S. citizen, sued Palace Resorts in Florida after allegedly slipping and falling at a Mexican resort. Palace Resorts, a group of …
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SCALES, J.
Appellants Palace Resorts Travel, Inc., Palace Resorts, Inc., Palace Resorts S.A. de C.V., and Palace Resorts Holding S.A. de C.V. (together “Palace Resorts”)
appeal a denial of their motion to dismiss, on forum non conveniens grounds, appellee Cecilia J. Flynn’s personal injury lawsuit. Because we agree with the analysis of the trial court’s detailed denial order, we affirm.
Flynn, a United States citizen though not a Florida resident, allegedly was injured in a slip-and-fall at a Mexican resort operated by Palace Resorts. Flynn filed her personal injury lawsuit in Miami-Dade County Circuit Court. Two of the four Palace Resorts defendants1 are Delaware corporations domiciled in Florida. The trial court found2 that Palace Resorts conducted business in the United States, including the marketing to potential United States customers of the Mexican resort.
In denying Palace Resorts’s motion to dismiss for forum non conveniens, the trial court found that Palace Resorts failed in their high burden of showing that their interests outweighed the strong presumption in favor of Flynn’s forum choice. See Cortez v. Palace Resorts, Inc., 123 So 3d 1085, 1096 (Fla. 2013). Further, the trial court weighed the public interest factors in favor of litigating in Mexico versus
Florida and found that public interest factors did not tip the balance in favor of Mexico to defeat the presumption of Flynn’s choice of forum. See id. at 1093.
We review the denial of a motion to dismiss based on forum non conveniens for an abuse of discretion. Abeid-Saba v. Carnival Corp., 184 So. 3d 593, 599 (Fla. 3d DCA 2016). We conclude that the trial court committed no abuse of discretion in formulating its order on appeal.
Affirmed.