Personal Jurisdiction in Florida: Some Problems and Proposals

As any well-taught law student knows, two things must generally be true in order for an American court to render a binding in personam judgment against a party who does not reside within the borders of the state in which the court is located:' (1) the party's conduct must fall within the terms of a statute of that state, universally known as a "long arm statute," conferring power upon that state's courts to hear cases of the kind described therein, and (2) the assertion of personal jurisdiction under the long arm statute must satisfy the "minimum contacts" test articulated by the United States Supreme Court in the case of International Shoe Co. v. Washington.