A. Minimum Contacts
14. The allegations contacted in the Plaintiff’s First Amended Complaint allege that the Defendant has caused to be published defamatory non-privileged statements in Florida via the internet.
15. Florida Courts have held that a Defendant has sufficient minimum contacts with the State of Florida if the Defendant commits a tortuous act in the State of Florida. In Price v. Kronenberger 24 So. 3d 775; (Fla 5th DCA 2009), the Fifth District Court of Appeals held
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2 Plaintiff asserts, however, that there is no First Amendment implication to defamatory commercial speech. The defamation, over which the Plaintiff seeks a Declaratory Judgment, is clearly not political speech or speech which communicates information with general public interest.
that a complaint which alleges a non-resident committed a tortuous act based on communications directed into Florida electronically, either by telephone or in writing, had sufficient minimum contacts with the State of Florida. In Silver v. Levinson, 648 So. 2d 240, 243-244 (Fla. 4th DCA 1994) stated that a: “Connecticut resident could reasonably anticipate being haled into Florida court where he sent a defamatory letter into Florida … that was “designed to have an effect” in Florida”.
In this instance, the Plaintiff has alleged that the Defendant through the anonymous posting of defamatory, non-privilege statements via the internet, published on Google.com, via a live URL link to Realscam.com, within the State of Florida. Applying Price and Silver, the Defendant has met the minimum contacts test for the Plaintiff to obtain long arm
jurisdiction pursuant to Florida Statute 48.193(1)(b) if the Plaintiff actually knew who Defendant Anonymous John Doe 1 was and where he was located so as to perfect in personam service. Unfortunately that is not the case here. In other words, a tort was committed in Florida, directed into Florida and the res, which is the defamatory statement,
is digital property (or, if printed, a written instrument) present in Florida and subject to the jurisdiction of this Court.