The third installment in a five part series entitled “Top 5 Construction Mediation Tips and Techniques.” The Blog posts from this series are intended to be cumulative and should be reviewed as a whole in order to fully receive the message of the author. This post will focus on the importance of understanding barriers to settlement and overcoming those barriers.
Starting July 1, 2013, a new Florida Statute will allow businesses to limit, by contract, their employee’s liability for professional negligence claims. Senate Bill 286 and Florida Statute Section 558.0035. The new statute applies to business entities architects, interior designers, landscape architects, engineers, surveyors, and geologists. The business entities that will be able to utilize the provisions of the statute include corporations, limited liability companies, partnerships, limited partnerships, proprietorships, firms, enterprises, franchises, associations, trusts, and self-employed individuals, whether fictitiously named or not, doing business in the State of Florida.
The second installment in a five part series entitled “Top 5 Construction Mediation Tips and Techniques.” The Blog posts from this series are intended to be cumulative and should be reviewed as a whole in order to fully receive the message of the author. This post will focus on the importance of knowing your case and that of your adversaries.
Any significant piece of construction litigation will at some point be mediated in advance of trial. Florida Statute 44.102 provides for a court-ordered mediation and sets forth the main reasons why a construction mediation case should be mediated, both from the party’s perspective and the court’s perspective. Namely, mediation offers an opportunity for a third party neutral to encourage and facilitate the resolution of the dispute amongst the parties. The parties in large construction defect or contract litigation cases often become so embroiled in the daily minutia of winning small discovery or motion practice battles that the opportunity to share a complete overview of their triable case with an independent third party construction mediator and all of the parties involved in the matter will serve as a chance to refocus the case on the major issues and monetize those issues to refined damage calculations in preparation for trial.
In Florida, contracts for residential construction must include certain provisions required by statute. This article identifies and examines these mandatory provisions. A prudent residential contractor needs to be aware of these requirements of Florida Statute and include all applicable provisions in his or her contracts.
This Blog is Part III in a series of Blogs designed to provide business owners with a high-level overview of the legal process for collecting on past-due accounts receivables. Specifically, Part III focuses on the actions a business owner should take immediately upon obtaining a final judgment against a delinquent customer.
When it comes to community associations, nothing generates more conflicts and disputes than a hotly contested election for the association’s board of directors. Most often, the debate involves whether or not, under Florida law, a certain individual is even eligible to serve on the association’s board.
In Part One of this Blog post, we focused on what document retention policies are, who should have them and what documents should be kept for what length of time. Please click here to review Part One. In Part Two of this Blog post, we will focus on what the legal ramifications of failing to comply with your document retention policy are, with special attention given to responsibilities of the retaining company once litigation is anticipated or underway.
This Blog is Part II in a series of Blogs designed to provide business owners with a high-level overview of the legal process for collecting on past-due accounts receivables. Specifically, Part II focuses on commencing legal action against delinquent customers once it’s become apparent that pre-suit collection efforts are futile.
It is common knowledge that when a person or business files for bankruptcy, the end result is typically a discharge of debts. The bankruptcy debtor will no longer be personally responsible for payment of the outstanding debts. However, a security interest in real property remains, such as a lien created by a mortgage on a home. But what happens to a security interest in something more intangible, like insurance proceeds?