## Facts

- The Meier family, Utah residents, vacationed at or through the Atlantis Resort & Casino on Paradise Island, Bahamas.
- On July 19, 1999, minor Victor A. Meier was snorkeling in “Snorkeler’s Cove” when he was struck by a commercial motorboat allegedly connected to a water-sports vendor operating at or from the resort.
- Victor suffered catastrophic injuries, was transported to shore, and was airlifted to Miami, Florida for treatment; he survived but lost an arm and was permanently disfigured.
- The plaintiffs sued multiple Bahamian corporate entities affiliated with the resort in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, alleging negligence and negligent supervision, and seeking damages including emotional distress.
- The Bahamian entities maintained Florida subsidiaries that performed extensive services supporting the resort’s business, including U.S.-focused advertising and marketing, reservations operations, accounting and collections, and management of Florida bank accounts and related financial functions.
- The plaintiffs alleged these Florida subsidiaries functioned as agent-subsidiaries carrying out substantial, ongoing activities primarily for the benefit of the Bahamian parent entities.

## Issues

1. Whether Florida courts could exercise general personal jurisdiction over the Bahamian defendants under Florida’s long-arm statute by imputing the Florida subsidiaries’ contacts to the foreign parent entities on an agency/instrumentality theory.
2. Whether exercising such jurisdiction would satisfy the Due Process Clause, including “fair play and substantial justice.”
3. If jurisdiction existed, whether the case should nonetheless be dismissed on forum non conveniens grounds in favor of litigation in the Bahamas.

## Decision

- The Eleventh Circuit reversed the district court’s dismissal for lack of personal jurisdiction.
- The court held that the Florida subsidiaries’ continuous and systematic forum activities could be imputed to the Bahamian parent entities because the subsidiaries acted as their agents/instrumentalities.
- The court concluded that asserting jurisdiction comported with due process given purposeful availment and the fairness factors.
- The court declined to order dismissal on forum non conveniens and remanded for further proceedings.

## Legal Principles

- Under Florida’s long-arm statute, a foreign corporation may be subject to jurisdiction based on the acts of an agent; a domestic subsidiary’s contacts may be imputed to a foreign parent when the subsidiary functions as an instrumentality performing substantial, ongoing, business-critical services for the parent.
- Continuous and systematic in-forum activities carried out by an agent-subsidiary can support general jurisdiction over a foreign parent, even when the underlying tort occurred outside the forum.
- Due process requires purposeful availment and that exercising jurisdiction be consistent with traditional notions of fair play and substantial justice, evaluated through factors such as the burden on defendants, the forum’s interests, the plaintiffs’ interest in effective relief, and efficiency considerations.
- An appellate court resolving a threshold jurisdictional error may remand without deciding forum non conveniens as an alternative ground for dismissal.

## Conclusion

The Eleventh Circuit held that Florida could exercise general jurisdiction over foreign resort entities because their Florida subsidiaries operated as agents performing substantial, continuous, and systematic functions central to the parents’ business; it reversed the jurisdictional dismissal and remanded for further proceedings.


Meier ex rel. Meier v. Sun Int'l Hotels, Ltd., 288 F.3d 1264 (11th Cir. 2002)