## Facts

- Donald L. Brown was injured on a construction site in Hillsborough County, Florida.
- Brown and his wife filed a negligence action in Orange County Circuit Court against Nucor Corporation (and a division of Nucor), alleging negligent prefabrication of structural steel.
- Nucor, as defendant, filed a third-party complaint for indemnity and contribution against several Florida corporations, including Stowers Equipment Rental Co., which supplied a crane and operator.
- Brown later amended the complaint to add Stowers as a direct defendant, alleging negligent crane operation contributed to his injuries.
- Stowers’ principal place of business was in Hillsborough County; it moved to transfer venue from Orange County to Hillsborough County.
- The trial court denied the venue motion, and Stowers pursued an interlocutory appeal.

## Issues

1. Whether a third-party defendant may be required to litigate in the county where the main action is properly pending, even if the plaintiff could not have sued that party there as an original defendant.
2. Whether a third-party defendant gains a right to change venue when the plaintiff later amends the complaint to assert direct claims against that party.

## Decision

- The appellate court affirmed the order denying Stowers’ motion to change venue.
- A third-party defendant properly impleaded into an action that is properly venued must litigate in that forum, even if independent venue would have been improper for a direct suit by the plaintiff.
- Adding that third-party defendant as a direct defendant by amended complaint does not reset venue or create a new right to transfer.

## Legal Principles

- Venue is generally determined by the propriety of the forum at the time the original action is filed against the principal defendant(s).
- Third-party practice permits related indemnity and contribution claims to be litigated in the same action and forum without requiring that each third-party defendant independently satisfy original-defendant venue requirements.
- A plaintiff’s amendment adding a previously impleaded third-party defendant as a direct defendant does not reopen venue; the party’s earlier, proper joinder in the pending action limits later venue objections.
- Courts favor resolving related liabilities arising from a single occurrence in one forum to avoid multiple suits and inconsistent adjudications.

## Conclusion

Because the main action was properly filed in Orange County and Stowers was properly brought into that action as a third-party defendant, Stowers could not obtain a venue transfer after the plaintiffs amended to sue it directly; venue remained in Orange County.


Stowers Equip. Rental Co. v. Brown, 370 So. 2d 1248 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 1979)