## Facts

- Execu-Tech Business Systems, Inc., a Florida purchaser of thermal facsimile paper, filed a putative class action on behalf of Florida users of thermal fax paper.
- Thermal fax paper was sold through a distribution chain: manufacturers sold jumbo rolls to intermediaries, who sold to converters that repackaged the paper for retail sale to businesses and consumers.
- A federal investigation of the thermal fax paper industry resulted in criminal charges against leading manufacturers and trading houses; New Oji Paper Company, a Japanese manufacturer, pleaded guilty and was fined.
- Execu-Tech alleged that, from February 1990 to March 1992, New Oji and others conspired to fix wholesale prices of jumbo rolls nationwide, causing inflated retail prices paid by Florida consumers.
- New Oji asserted it had no Florida operations, sold jumbo rolls only abroad to intermediaries, and that any Florida sales occurred through downstream distribution rather than by New Oji directly.

## Issues

1. Whether allegations of a nationwide price-fixing conspiracy causing overcharges to Florida purchasers satisfy Florida’s long-arm statute as a “tortious act” committed in Florida.
2. Whether exercising personal jurisdiction over a foreign manufacturer with no physical presence in Florida comports with federal due process when the alleged conspiracy targeted the U.S. market, including Florida.
3. Whether Florida may use a conspiracy-based jurisdiction theory that attributes in-state acts of co-conspirators to an out-of-state conspirator for jurisdictional purposes.

## Decision

- The Florida Supreme Court quashed the district court of appeal decision affirming dismissal and held Florida courts could exercise personal jurisdiction over New Oji.
- The Court ruled the complaint adequately alleged a tortious act in Florida because the conspiracy caused economic injury to Florida purchasers through inflated prices.
- The Court held due process was satisfied because participation in a nationwide price-fixing scheme targeting the U.S. market constituted sufficient minimum contacts with Florida, and New Oji could reasonably anticipate being sued in Florida.
- The case was remanded for further proceedings on the merits.

## Legal Principles

- Personal jurisdiction in Florida requires (1) a basis under the long-arm statute and (2) compliance with due process (minimum contacts and fairness).
- For the long-arm statute, an anticompetitive conspiracy that foreseeably causes economic injury in Florida can constitute a “tortious act” in Florida even if much of the defendant’s conduct occurred elsewhere.
- Under conspiracy-based jurisdiction, acts in Florida by one conspirator in furtherance of the conspiracy may be attributed to nonresident co-conspirators for jurisdictional purposes.
- Due process can be met where a defendant intentionally participates in a nationwide scheme directed at the U.S. market and the plaintiff’s claim arises from the scheme’s effects in Florida; jurisdiction does not require tracing specific units of the defendant’s product into the state.

## Conclusion

Florida courts may exercise personal jurisdiction over a foreign participant in a nationwide price-fixing conspiracy when the alleged scheme was directed at the U.S. market and caused overcharge injuries to Florida purchasers, satisfying both Florida’s long-arm statute and federal due process.


Execu-Tech Bus. Sys., Inc. v. New Oji Paper Co., 752 So. 2d 582 (Fla. 2000)