## Facts

- Continental Insurance Co., a foreign corporation registered and doing business in Florida, issued Kinney System, Inc. a workers’ compensation policy covering employees in multiple states, including Florida.
- The insurance relationship and premium dispute had significant multi-state contacts; the contract was negotiated in the New York area.
- Continental sued Kinney in a Florida circuit court to recover allegedly owed workers’ compensation insurance premiums.
- The trial court dismissed the action on forum non conveniens grounds, finding another jurisdiction more appropriate.
- The district court of appeal reversed, treating corporate licensure/doing business in Florida as precluding forum non conveniens dismissal, and certified a question to the Florida Supreme Court.

## Issues

1. Whether a Florida trial court is barred from dismissing on forum non conveniens grounds when a party is a foreign corporation that (a) does business in Florida, (b) is registered to do business in Florida, or (c) has its principal place of business in Florida.
2. What standard Florida courts must apply in deciding forum non conveniens motions in multi-state or transnational cases.

## Decision

- The Florida Supreme Court held that trial courts are not categorically precluded from applying forum non conveniens based on a corporation’s Florida registration, licensure, business activity, or even principal place of business.
- The Court rejected the district court’s rigid rule and approved dismissal when an adequate alternative forum exists and the balance of conveniences strongly favors litigation elsewhere.
- The Court adopted a structured, federal-style forum non conveniens analysis grounded in balancing private and public interests.
- The Court’s holding effectively reinstated the trial court’s ability to dismiss under forum non conveniens in appropriate cases and established a statewide framework later codified in Florida procedure.

## Legal Principles

- Forum non conveniens is a discretionary doctrine allowing a court to decline to exercise jurisdiction even when personal jurisdiction and venue are proper.
- No categorical rule bars forum non conveniens dismissal merely because a party is registered, licensed, or doing business in Florida.
- Florida courts apply a four-part test:
  - An adequate alternative forum must be available and able to exercise jurisdiction.
  - Private-interest factors (access to proof, witness availability and cost, and trial practicalities) must favor the alternative forum.
  - If private interests are in equipoise, public-interest factors (court burdens, local interest, governing law, and conflict-of-law concerns) may support dismissal.
  - The plaintiff must be able to refile in the alternative forum without undue inconvenience or prejudice.
- A plaintiff’s forum choice receives substantial deference but yields when the balance of private and public interests clearly points to a substantially more appropriate forum.

## Conclusion

The Florida Supreme Court adopted a federal-style forum non conveniens framework and held that Florida corporate registration or business activity does not prevent dismissal when an adequate alternative forum exists and the balance of private and public interests favors litigation in that other forum.


Kinney Sys., Inc. v. Cont’l Ins. Co., 674 So. 2d 86 (Fla. 1996)