Associate Attorney
In Sandelman v. Sandelman, 50 Fla. L. Weekly D2462 (Fla. 4th DCA 2025), the Fourth District delivered a straightforward—but often overlooked—procedural reminder: personal jurisdiction under Florida’s long-arm statute must be properly pleaded in the complaint itself, not supplied later in an opposition to a motion to dismiss.
The case arose from a dispute involving the alleged diversion of millions of dollars from the sale of a Florida condominium. The plaintiff alleged that proceeds from a Florida transaction were improperly routed to a Peruvian entity controlled by one of the defendants. The complaint asserted Florida jurisdiction generally, but did not plead the specific jurisdictional facts required to satisfy Florida’s long-arm statute.
When the defendant moved to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction, the plaintiff responded by laying out detailed jurisdictional facts—arguing that the wrongful conduct occurred in Florida because the funds were directed from a Florida bank to a Peruvian bank. The trial court accepted that explanation and denied the motion to dismiss.
The Fourth DCA reversed.
The appellate court made clear that, on a jurisdictional challenge, the court is limited to the four corners of the complaint when determining whether the long-arm statute is satisfied. Even if a plaintiff can articulate sufficient jurisdictional facts in a response or affidavit, those facts do not cure a defective pleading. The proper course is to amend the complaint.
Practice pointers
Jurisdictional allegations are not optional. If you are relying on Florida’s long-arm statute, plead the statutory basis and the supporting facts clearly in the complaint.
Fix it early, fix it cleanly. When a defendant files a motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction, the lowest-risk move is often to amend the complaint rather than litigate the issue in briefing.
Opposition memoranda don’t count. Courts will not treat jurisdictional facts raised for the first time in a response as a substitute for proper pleading.
For defense counsel, read the complaint closely. If the long-arm allegations are thin or conclusory, a jurisdictional motion to dismiss may force an early amendment—or an outright dismissal.
Takeaway: Florida courts require jurisdiction to be pleaded, not improvised. If the long-arm statute isn’t satisfied on the face of the complaint, no amount of argument in a response brief will save it.
Early motion practice often turns on fundamentals like jurisdictional pleading. We help clients decide when to amend, when to attack, and when to force the other side to show its hand at the outset of litigation.
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