Improper Venue

In McCarrol v. Van Dyk (4D08-4653) the Fourth DCA reversed and remanded and ordered the action be transferred to Broward County.

Facts:

Van Dyk filed a complaint in Palm Beach County circuit court, alleging that Safe Hurricane failed to make commission payments he had earned. In addition to Safe Hurricane, the complaint named as defendants two principals of the corporation: Edward Leiva, a Broward County resident, and Francis McCarroll, a non-resident of Florida.

Legal Standard:

The determination of venue in Florida is relatively straightforward— actions shall be brought only in the county where the cause of action accrued, where the property in litigation is located, where the defendant resides, or, in the case of a domestic corporation, in the county where such corporation has, or usually keeps, an office for the transaction of its customary business. §§ 47.011, 47.051, Fla. Stat. (2008). In the instant case, there is no property in litigation, and the defendants either reside or keep an office for the transaction of customary business in Broward County.

The plaintiff attempted to allege venue was proper in Palm Beach County because payment was allegedly to be made in Palm Beach County.

However:

A debtor can overcome the presumption that payment was to be made at the payee’s place of residence with sufficient evidence establishing a contrary course of conduct between the parties...Additionally, the debtor-creditor venue rule is inapplicable when the cause of action arises, as here, in an employment context.

Therefore, based upon defendant's undisputed affidavit, venue was proper in Broward County alone.