Alex Sutton, a professional golfer living in Middleburg, Florida, entered into a
sponsorship agreement with ARS & Associates, a Michigan partnership. Among other
things, the agreement provided that (1) ARS would sponsor Sutton on a Professional
Golfing Association (PGA) tour, (2) ARS would pay all of Sutton s expenses, (3) ARS
and Sutton would split the proceeds (whatever remained after ARS had been
reimbursed for expenses) fifty-fifty, and (4) ARS would provide health insurance for
Sutton. Preliminary negotiations were carried out mostly over the phone. ARS drew up
the agreement in Michigan and sent it to Sutton in Florida; Sutton signed and returned
the contract to ARS. ARS then signed the agreement and sent a copy of it to Sutton.
Sutton subsequently participated in several senior PGA events, including two
tournaments in Florida. While playing golf in a senior PGA tournament in Palm Springs,
California, Sutton suffered a heart attack and, as a result, later incurred costs of more
than $100,000 for open-heart surgery and related medical expenses. Because ARS had
not obtained health-insurance coverage for Sutton, Sutton sued ARS in a Florida state
court for breach of the agreement. ARS moved to dismiss the action for lack of personal
jurisdiction. Can the Florida court, under its long arm statute, exercise personal
jurisdiction over the Michigan defendant in this case? Discuss.
The question under consideration is whether or not the Florida court can exercise
personal jurisdiction over ARS (located in Michigan). Under a long arm statute, a court
can exercise personal jurisdiction over nonresidents. It must also be shown that the
nonresident had sufficient contacts with the state to justify the jurisdiction. If one party
transacts any business within the state or contracts anywhere to supply services within
the state then the claims arising from this are amenable to jurisdiction. A contract of
insuring any person within the state has the right to confer jurisdiction. In a long arm
statute, it requires the injury to be occurred within the state. According to the case, both