Determined1 Posted February 27, 2013 Report Share Posted February 27, 2013 Hi, I have been in a lengthy legal battle and may have overlooked an important issue. I'd be thrilled at some feedback on this. My company is a Defendant in a lawsuit in Florida. The original case was dismissed Without Prejudice. The Court Order gave the Plaintiff the ability re-file, if they could prove key issues that they couldn't come close to proving in the initial case (primarily: standing to sue, jurisdiction of the court, and a chain of title proving the Plaintiff had any claim, and then proof of the claim itself). The Plaintiff's attorney waited for a change in Judge in the local Court, and re-filed the exact same case with an Amended Complaint that was sent to me by regular US mail. He blatantly ignored the Court Order. I objected, filed a Motion to Dismiss, and saving you all the several years of back and forth history, Judge #3 in this case allowed the Plaintiff to Amend yet again. The Plaintiff partially met the initial Judge's Order for providing some documentation. Taking aside for a moment that the documents now filed disprove and invalidate the Plaintiff's claim, the Second Amended Complaint was "served" on me by FAX. Question #1: Did the Plaintiff have to re-serve the Amended Complaint and Second Amended Complaint in the manner of a Summons (via Process Server), or was US Mail and FAX sufficient? Question #2: In the event they did not meet the Service requirement, did I screw up by not objecting earlier? Question #3: By Answering the Second Amended Complaint, did I lose the right to Object for their failure to Serve me properly? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Determined1 Posted March 1, 2013 Author Report Share Posted March 1, 2013 Bump Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nascar Posted March 1, 2013 Report Share Posted March 1, 2013 I would like to tell you that Plaintiff could not/should not have been able to do what he did. However, we both know that state court is a joke. Dismissed means dismissed. Plaintiff should have filed a new action (new case number) and been made to pay your costs (if any) incurred in defense of the previously dismissed suit. See Fla. R. Civ. P. 1.420(d). 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BTO429 Posted March 1, 2013 Report Share Posted March 1, 2013 There is an option to reopen a case But after it has been dismissed that is hard to obtain. The plaintiff should have filed a whole new case. I can tell you from experience, if the attorney has pulled a fast one on you, I will not go into the politics in this case, the changing of the judge, this was done on purpose. You need an attorney at this point, it is obvious that there is bias in the court system. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Determined1 Posted March 1, 2013 Author Report Share Posted March 1, 2013 Thank you both for the feedback, I really appreciate it. I'd like to have the case removed from the local court and file a federal lawsuit against the Plaintiff's parent company and the attorneys for fraud. The issue appears larger than just my case and is statewide. If anyone has a referral for a good attorney with fraud experience in Florida, please let me know by PM. Thanks again for the feedback. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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