Breach of Contract
in Florida.

Statute of Limitations

Under § 95.11, Fla. Stat., the clock is:

• Written contracts: 5 years from breach.
• Oral contracts: 4 years.
• UCC Article 2 sales of goods: 4 years (§ 672.725), with a contractual option to shorten to as little as 1 year.
• Specific performance: 1 year.

The clock starts at the breach, not at discovery, in most contract cases. That makes prompt analysis important for anything that went sideways more than a couple of years ago.

Attorney's Fees · the Fulcrum of Small-to-Mid Disputes

Florida follows the American Rule: each side pays its own fees unless a statute or contract says otherwise. Most business contracts include a prevailing-party fee clause, and under § 57.105(7), a one-sided fee clause is converted into a reciprocal one. For disputes under ~$250K, the fee-shifting posture is often more important than the underlying damages, and it's the single biggest driver of settlement leverage.

What to Do First When Someone Breaks a Contract With You

Someone did not deliver, did not pay, or walked away from the deal. Before anything else, read the contract again and answer two questions honestly: did they clearly miss a specific obligation (with a definite deadline, not wiggle room, and no force majeure or notice clause that excuses it), and did you perform your side? If you are also in breach, your position changes considerably. Then:

• Document everything, immediately. Save the signed contract and every amendment, all emails and texts, invoices, delivery receipts, and payment records. Write down phone calls with dates and times while you remember them. Florida courts decide contract cases on paper, and memories fade in months.
• Mitigate your damages. Florida law requires the non-breaching party to take reasonable steps to limit the loss: find replacement goods or services, re-let the space, cover the order. Document the extra cost, because that is recoverable; the loss you could have avoided is not.
• Send a clean demand letter. State what they were supposed to do, how they breached, what you want, and a reasonable deadline, tied to specific contract provisions. Many agreements require written notice and a cure period before suit, so check before you file. A well-written demand resolves a surprising share of disputes without litigation.
• Check the dispute-resolution clause. Mandatory mediation or arbitration provisions can upend your entire litigation strategy, and mediation is often the right first step anyway where the relationship is worth preserving.
• Consider a pre-suit offer. An early, reasonable number usually settles a contract case in weeks rather than months.
• Think about the relationship and the stakes. A key vendor or long-term customer may deserve a negotiated fix over a lawsuit. A $500 breach rarely justifies litigation; a $50,000 one often does.

What Litigation Looks Like If It Comes to That

A contested Florida contract case typically runs 12 to 24 months from filing to resolution: complaint, the defendant's answer and any counterclaim, discovery (documents, interrogatories, depositions), court-ordered mediation, trial preparation, and then trial or settlement. Most cases settle somewhere in discovery, once both sides have seen the documents. During that time you will spend real money on fees and real hours on depositions and document production, which is why the fee clause and the ROI question below matter more than the legal theory.

The Honest ROI Question

Every breach-of-contract case should pass a simple test before you file: net recovery after fees, costs, time, and collection risk.Even with a prevailing-party fee clause, a $40,000 dispute against a judgment-proof defendant is a career-long regret. We run that analysis with every client before filing, and sometimes the advice is not to.