Background
Advanced Wound Care sued Contact Medical Supply in Hillsborough County. Contact Medical Supply moved to quash substituted service and transfer the case to Miami-Dade County, where it had already filed a related action against Advanced Wound Care and personally served Advanced Wound Care.
The circuit court granted the motion, concluding that Advanced Wound Care had not strictly complied with the mailing requirement for substituted service under section 48.161(3), Florida Statutes (2025). Advanced Wound Care appealed the nonfinal order under Florida Rule of Appellate Procedure 9.130.
The Court’s Holding
The Second District reversed. Contact Medical Supply confessed error, and the court accepted that confession.
The appellate court held that the ruling quashing service and transferring venue could not be supported by a good-faith argument. The record showed that Advanced Wound Care lacked an address for Contact Medical Supply because of Contact Medical Supply’s own evasiveness and gamesmanship. Equitable estoppel therefore prevented Contact Medical Supply from benefiting from those deceptive actions.
Key Takeaways
- A party may be equitably estopped from challenging substituted service when its own evasive conduct prevented compliance with a service requirement.
- Contact Medical Supply could not use its alleged gamesmanship to obtain transfer to the county where it had filed its related action.
- The case must proceed in Hillsborough County on remand.
Why It Matters
The decision applies equitable estoppel to prevent a litigant from exploiting service-related noncompliance that the litigant itself caused. It also restores the plaintiff’s chosen Hillsborough County forum despite the defendant’s related Miami-Dade action.