DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF FLORIDA FOURTH DISTRICT JOHN GORDON, Appellant, v. MARLANA A. BETHEL, a/k/a MARLANA KRAUSE BETHEL, and JOHNNY A. BETHEL, Appellees. No. 4D21-3588 [April 19, 2023] Appeal from the Circuit Court for the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit, Broward County; David A. Haimes, Judge; L.T. Case No. CACE-20- 011629. Jason Ari Smith of the Law Offices of Jason Ari Smith, P.A., Oakland Park, for appellant. Brian Recor of Recor Rieber, P.A., Miami, for appellees. WARNER, J. Appellant, John Gordon, timely appeals a final order granting appellees Marlana Bethel’s and Johnny Bethel’s motion to dismiss for forum non conveniens, and dismissing Gordon’s amended complaint with prejudice. The trial court found that The Bahamas was a more convenient forum for Gordon’s defamation claim against the Bethels. Because, under a Kinney 1 analysis, the public and private interest factors do not favor The Bahamas as the forum, and because the court failed to accord the very strong presumption in favor of Florida jurisdiction in a suit by a Florida resident, the court abused its discretion in dismissing this case. We reverse. Gordon filed the underlying lawsuit against the Bethels for defamation. Gordon, an experienced marine surveyor, adjuster, investigator, and salvage master, is a resident of Broward County. He operates his business endeavors out of Broward and has clients/customers in Florida. 1 Kinney Sys., Inc. v. Cont’l Ins. Co., 674 So. 2d 86 (Fla. 1996). In September 2019, when Hurricane Dorian hit Scotland Cay in The Bahamas, it caused extensive damage. Among the wreckage caused by the hurricane was the vessel, the “Grace Sea.” The vessel had been damaged, but according to Gordon, while the vessel had taken on water at a dock in Scotland Cay, the engine was not submerged, and it was not leaking fuel or oil, so it was not a peril. According to the National Vessel Documentation Center, the United States Department of Homeland Security and the United States Coast Guard certified the vessel as owned at the time by Grace Marine LLC, a company with a Delaware address. The vessel bore a United States flag and its registered hailing port was Okeechobee, Florida. Days after the hurricane, the owner of Grace Marine, Gilbert Culbreth, Jr., filed a claim with his insurer, GEICO Marine Insurance. GEICO then had its subsidiary BoatUS attempt to recover the vessel. Around September 12, 2019, the vessel was tagged with a decal stating: “POSTED- NO TRESPASSING! Do Not Board or Move Boat Without Permission From BoatUS or Vessel Owner.” The decal also listed contact numbers for BoatUS. In the following days, a BoatUS contractor attempted to take possession of the vessel, but the vessel had been tied to the dock and padlocked so that it could not be moved. On September 27, 2019, Grace Marine sold the vessel to GEICO, and the bill of sale stated the vessel was sold free and clear of any encumbrances of any kind and nature. GEICO contacted Gordon on October 9 to try to recover …
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