Practice Area · 06
Fort Lauderdale Business
Litigation Attorney.
Commercial disputes handled like an investment decision, because every lawsuit is one.
§1
Litigation as a Business Decision
Most business disputes are not really about the law. They are about whether pursuing the claim returns more than it costs, and whether the person on the other side can actually pay. We start every commercial matter with that arithmetic, and we say so out loud when the honest answer is that the claim is not worth filing.
Paul Kogan has spent seventeen years in Florida courts on commercial matters. That experience shows up less in the courtroom than in the first meeting, where knowing how a case actually ends lets you price the decision to start it.
§2
Breach of Contract
The core of most commercial litigation. A vendor did not deliver, a customer did not pay, a partner did not perform. The analysis turns on what the contract says, what the parties actually did, and what a fee-shifting or venue clause does to the economics. Our Florida breach of contract guide walks through the elements, the damages theories, and the five-year limitations period. Detail lives on contract and partnership disputes.
§3
Partnership & Shareholder Disputes
Business divorces are the ugliest commercial cases because the parties know each other. Frozen distributions, a partner drawing money out, denial of access to books and records, oppression of a minority member, deadlock that stops the company from functioning. Florida gives real remedies here, including an accounting, judicial dissolution, buyout, and appointment of a receiver, but most of them reward whoever moves first with clean documentation.
§4
Non-Compete & Trade Secrets
Florida enforces restrictive covenants more readily than most states. Under §542.335 a covenant supported by a legitimate business interest and reasonable in time, area, and line of business will generally be enforced, and courts will narrow one that reaches too far rather than void it. We prosecute and defend these, usually on an emergency footing, alongside claims under Florida’s Uniform Trade Secrets Act. See the non-compete enforcement guide.
§5
Commercial Collections
A judgment is not money. Collection is its own discipline: proceedings supplementary, garnishment, charging orders against an LLC interest, fraudulent transfer claims when assets have moved. We take collection matters where the debtor is actually collectible, and we will run that assessment before you spend anything on the underlying claim.
§6
Receivership & Asset Recovery
When a business needs to be taken out of the hands currently running it, or when property has been wrongfully taken, the remedies are fast and procedurally demanding: receivership, replevin under Chapter 78, conversion claims, and injunctive relief. This is the work covered in depth on commercial litigation and asset recovery.
§7
Emergency Injunctive Relief
Some disputes cannot wait for a trial date. A departing employee taking the customer list, a partner moving funds offshore, a counterparty about to sell the asset in dispute. Temporary restraining orders and temporary injunctions in Florida require a showing of irreparable harm, a likelihood of success, an inadequate remedy at law, and usually a bond. They are won or lost on how fast and how well the first filing is assembled.
Explore this practice
- Breach of Contract & Partnership DisputesContract breaches, partner and shareholder fallouts, non-compete enforcement, and commercial collections.
- Commercial Litigation & Asset RecoveryReceivership, Florida replevin under Chapter 78, fraud claims, and emergency injunctive relief.
- Business TransactionalThe other side of the same coin: entity formation, operating agreements, and contracts drafted to survive a dispute.
Business litigation, common questions
What counts as business litigation?
Any dispute where the parties are businesses, or where the subject is a business relationship. In practice that means breach of contract, partnership and shareholder fallouts, non-compete and trade secret fights, fraud and misrepresentation claims, commercial collections, and disputes over the sale or dissolution of a company. It is distinct from transactional work, which is drafting the agreement before anything goes wrong.
How much does a business lawsuit cost in Florida?
It depends almost entirely on whether the other side fights. A collections matter with a clean written contract and a defendant who folds can resolve for a few thousand dollars. A partnership dissolution with competing forensic accountants runs into six figures. We quote a budget by phase, pleadings, discovery, dispositive motions, trial, so you can decide at each gate whether continuing still makes financial sense. Some matters qualify for contingency or hybrid arrangements.
Can I recover my attorney fees?
Sometimes, and it is worth checking early because it changes the math on whether to sue at all. Florida follows the American rule, so each side pays its own fees unless a statute or the contract says otherwise. Many commercial contracts contain a prevailing-party fee clause. Florida’s offer of judgment statute, §768.79, can also shift fees when a reasonable settlement offer is rejected. We read the fee provision before we read anything else.
How long do I have to sue in Florida?
For a written contract the statute of limitations is generally five years; for an oral contract, four. Fraud is four years from discovery, subject to a twelve-year outer limit. Those are general rules with real exceptions, and the clock sometimes starts earlier than clients assume. If you think you may be near a deadline, call rather than reading further, because a missed limitations period is the one problem no amount of good facts fixes.
Are non-compete agreements enforceable in Florida?
Yes, more so than in most states. Florida Statute §542.335 enforces a restrictive covenant that is in writing, supported by a legitimate business interest, and reasonable in time, area, and line of business. Courts will narrow an overbroad covenant rather than strike it. Six months to two years is presumptively reasonable for a former employee. Our Florida non-compete enforcement guide covers what actually gets enforced and what does not.
My business partner is taking money out of the company. What can I do now?
Move quickly, because the remedies that matter here are the fast ones. Depending on the facts we can seek a temporary injunction to freeze conduct, an accounting, access to books and records, or appointment of a receiver to take control of the company pending the dispute. Preserve documents and stop communicating in ways you would not want read aloud. This is a call to make this week, not this quarter.
Should I sue or settle?
A lawsuit is an investment, and it should clear the same bar as any other. We look at the realistic recovery, the cost to get there, whether the defendant can actually pay a judgment, and what the litigation will cost you in time and distraction. A collectible $80,000 claim with a fee-shifting clause is a very different decision from an uncollectible $300,000 claim without one. We will tell you when the answer is not to sue.
Do you handle cases outside Broward County?
Yes. We appear in Broward, Miami-Dade, and Palm Beach routinely, and elsewhere in Florida as the matter requires. Most commercial contracts contain a venue clause that decides the question before the dispute starts, which is one of the reasons that clause deserves more attention at signing than it usually gets.
Paul Kogan
Fort Lauderdale Litigation Attorney, The Kogan Firm, P.A.
- 17+ years
- Florida Bar
- Martindale Peer Rated
Schedule a free
consultation.
Bring the contract and the short version of what happened. We'll tell you what the claim is worth, what it costs to pursue, and whether it makes financial sense to file.