Commercial Litigation
FAQ.

Commercial litigation is the umbrella for disputes arising out of business and commerce: breach of contract, partnership and shareholder fights, fraud and misrepresentation, business torts like tortious interference, collections and judgment enforcement, replevin and asset recovery, receiverships, and emergency injunctive relief. What unites these cases is less the subject matter than the approach: the parties are usually businesses or business people, the disputes turn on documents and money flows, and the right strategy weighs legal merits against business realities such as cost, disruption, and ongoing relationships. If a dispute threatens your company's money, property, or operations, it almost certainly fits here.

A Florida civil case follows a predictable arc. It starts with a complaint filed in county or circuit court, which must be formally served on each defendant. A served defendant generally has 20 days to respond, either with an answer or with motions attacking the complaint. Then comes discovery, usually the longest phase: document requests, interrogatories, and depositions, where most cases are actually won or lost. Nearly every contested case is ordered to mediation before trial, and most settle there or shortly afterward. The few that do not proceed to a bench or jury trial, followed by judgment, possible post-trial motions, and, when the losing side does not pay voluntarily, collection proceedings. Emergency remedies such as injunctions and prejudgment writs can compress parts of this timeline at the front end.

A receiver is a neutral professional the court appoints to take control of property or a business while a lawsuit is pending, to preserve value when leaving the asset in the current operator's hands is too risky. Courts appoint receivers on strong evidence of fraud, dissipation of assets, hopeless deadlock between owners, or collateral in distress. For commercial real estate, Chapter 714, Florida Statutes, the Uniform Commercial Real Estate Receivership Act, supplies a detailed framework for appointment and the receiver's powers; outside that context, receivership remains an equitable remedy administered under the rules of civil procedure and case law. Appointment is a serious intrusion, so courts demand a strong showing, and the receiver's costs come out of the assets, which makes this a tool for cases with real value at stake.

Replevin is the Florida cause of action, governed by Chapter 78, Florida Statutes, for recovering specific personal property someone is wrongfully holding: equipment, vehicles, inventory, machinery, or other tangible assets. It is the remedy when you want the property itself back, not just its monetary value. The statute includes a powerful prejudgment option: a writ directing the sheriff to seize the property before final judgment, available after a court hearing or, in narrow circumstances, without advance notice, and conditioned on the plaintiff posting a bond, generally set at double the value of the property. Replevin counts often travel with conversion and breach of contract claims, and they are a staple of equipment-finance disputes and business breakups.

Temporary injunctions are court orders that stop conduct now, before the case is decided, and Rule 1.610 of the Florida Rules of Civil Procedure governs them. To get one, you generally must show a substantial likelihood of success on the merits, irreparable harm that money cannot fix, no adequate remedy at law, and that the injunction serves the public interest. A temporary restraining order without notice to the other side is reserved for true emergencies where giving notice would itself trigger the harm, and it requires specific, verified facts. Courts require the movant to post a bond to cover the other side's damages if the injunction turns out to be wrongful. These applications are won with evidence and speed: a verified complaint, declarations, and documents assembled in days, not weeks.

When a debtor moves assets out of reach, transferring property to a relative, an insider, or a new company for little or nothing while creditors close in, Florida's Uniform Fraudulent Transfer Act, Chapter 726, Florida Statutes, lets creditors unwind the move. Claims come in two forms: actual fraud, shown through badges like transfers to insiders, concealment, and suspicious timing relative to the debt, and constructive fraud, where the debtor received less than reasonably equivalent value while insolvent or undercapitalized, regardless of intent. Remedies include avoiding the transfer and reaching the asset in the new owner's hands. The reach-back period is typically four years from the transfer, with a limited extension for actual-fraud claims discovered later, so these claims reward prompt investigation.

Sometimes, but Florida sets the bar high. Courts will disregard the corporate or LLC form only when the owner dominated the entity to the point that it had no independent existence, the form was used improperly, essentially organized or used to mislead or defraud creditors, and that improper use caused your injury. Sloppy bookkeeping, thin capitalization, or common ownership of several companies is generally not enough by itself; Florida requires proof of improper conduct, not mere informality. Veil-piercing is best treated as a collection theory you plan for early rather than a last-minute rescue: the discovery that proves commingling, asset-stripping, and alter-ego operation has to be built deliberately, and related claims like fraudulent transfer often reach the same assets more directly.

A judgment is a tool, not a check. Florida gives judgment creditors a substantial kit: recording a certified copy of the judgment creates a lien on the debtor's real property in that county, and filing a judgment lien certificate with the state reaches certain personal property. Garnishment under Chapter 77, Florida Statutes, intercepts bank accounts and certain wages; the sheriff can levy on and sell non-exempt assets; and the debtor can be compelled to disclose assets under oath through discovery in aid of execution. Where assets were moved, proceedings supplementary under Florida Statute §56.29 and fraudulent transfer claims can pull them back. A Florida judgment is generally enforceable for 20 years, so patience plus persistence is a real strategy. Collectability should be assessed before suit, not discovered after judgment.

Florida law offers several front-end remedies when waiting for trial would destroy the value of the case. Temporary injunctions and TROs stop destructive conduct such as misuse of trade secrets or raiding of company accounts. Prejudgment replevin recovers specific property before judgment. Prejudgment garnishment and attachment, available in narrower circumstances, freeze assets in third hands. Receivership puts a neutral in control of a business or property at risk, and a lis pendens protects claims tied to real estate. Each remedy has its own elements, bond requirements, and consequences if wrongly obtained, and all of them reward preparation: verified facts, documents, and speed. If you believe assets or evidence are about to disappear, the time to get advice is before the transfer happens, not after.

Tortious interference is the business tort aimed at outsiders who wrongfully wreck your deals. The elements are: an existing contract or business relationship under which you had rights (with identifiable customers, not just the marketplace at large), the defendant's knowledge of it, intentional and unjustified interference that induced the breach or ended the relationship, and damages. The battleground is usually justification: a defendant pursuing its own legitimate competitive interests by fair means is generally privileged to compete, while using improper means, or interfering purely to inflict harm, is not protected. These claims appear constantly alongside non-compete and trade secret disputes, employee-raiding cases, and deals that mysteriously die after a competitor starts making calls.

Almost certainly. Florida circuit courts routinely order mediation in contested civil cases before they will set trial, and many case management orders build it in automatically. Mediation is a confidential negotiation run by a neutral mediator who cannot impose a result; what is said there is generally inadmissible later, which frees both sides to talk candidly. In commercial cases mediation works: most disputes settle at or shortly after it, usually once discovery has shown both sides the strengths and weaknesses of their positions. Treat it as an event to be prepared for rather than a box to check. The parties who arrive with a damages model, document support, and a realistic negotiating plan consistently get better outcomes.

Florida follows the American rule: each side pays its own attorney's fees unless a contract or statute shifts them. In commercial cases, fee-shifting most often comes from prevailing-party clauses in the underlying contracts. Layered on top is Florida Statute §768.79, the offer of judgment statute: in cases seeking money damages, a party can serve a formal proposal for settlement, and if the opponent rejects it and the final result is worse for them by the statutory margin of 25 percent, the offering party can recover attorney's fees from the date of the offer. Used well, these proposals create real settlement pressure; ignored, they can quietly turn a winnable case into an expensive one. Fee exposure should be mapped at the start of every commercial case, not at the end.