Blogs & Resources

Florida’s community associations are largely governed by two main sources of authority: (1) the Florida Condominium Act (for condo associations) and the Florida HOA Act (for homeowners’ associations); and (2) the association’s governing documents. While court opinions, State of Florida arbitration decisions and the Florida Administrative Code also govern community associations, these sources largely rely on the Florida Statutes, association governing documents, or both, for any given issue. Concerning the hierarchy of this authority, the Florida Condominium Act and the Florida HOA Act (collectively referred to as the “Acts”) will trump community association documents (i.e., declarations, bylaws, articles of incorporation and rules and regulations). Stated another way, the Acts ultimately have the final say if the governing documents are silent or contradict the Acts on any issue. Because association documents are subordinate to the Acts, an association’s declaration that does not contain Kaufman Language is stuck in the past.

A condominium association’s governing documents in conjunction with Section 718.116, Florida Statutes, are the genesis of the condominium association’s authority to impose and perfect assessment liens against individually owned units and parcels within the community. This four-part blog will discuss the condominium association’s right to lien, perfecting the condominium association lien, and collection practices for condominium associations. Part I will discuss the condominium association’s authority for asserting liens.

Often leaders in organizations view a document retention policy as simply a written document that a company creates or obtains and then saves on its server with every other document the company has created or obtained and now retains. Best practices dictate that an effective document retention policy be seen as […]

Spoliation of relevant Electronically Stored Information (ESI) is a serious concern for litigants in both Federal and State court actions. Because of records retention measures that may be in place at an organization, such as automatic deletion of emails after a certain time period has elapsed, and because of litigants’ potential ignorance of their duty to preserve, it is prudent to seek avenues to ensure that both your own client and the opposing party are proactively preserving ESI from the onset of their duty to preserve.

The Legislature deems it necessary in the interest of the public health, safety, and welfare to regulate the construction industry in Florida. As a result, the Florida Legislature enacted Chapter 489, Florida Statutes. The general policy in Florida is that construction work needs to be performed by an appropriate licensed contractor unless exempt from licensure under 489.103, Florida Statutes. In order to obtain initial licensure for construction work in Florida, the applicant must demonstrate the requisite knowledge, skill and experience, in addition to good moral character and financial stability.

Jimerson Birr featured on the Jax Chamber website for being named to Florida Trend magazine’s annual list of “Best Companies to Work For”.

Featured in the July 2016 Issue Partner’s Perspective: Civility in Litigation: A Key Ingredient to Effective and Economical Legal Strategy J&C to Host Construction Law Workshop Seminar New Law Blogs Curiosities, Ruminations and Various Eccentricities of Firm Biz Click to read.

Contractors who perform excavation work in Florida must be aware of the requirements set forth in Chapter 556 of the Florida Statutes, known as the Underground Facility Damage Prevention and Safety Act (“Act”). Failing to follow the procedures set forth in the Act can result in civil and criminal penalties, including monetary damages. This post focuses on some of the requirements of the Act related to excavation work that is not beneath the waters of the State of Florida.

A major expense for many homeowners’ and condominium owners’ associations is the cost of the utilities for common areas of the communities. The good news for such associations, however, is that they are entitled to an exemption for the sales tax related to their utilities as long as a few requirements are met—a fact of which many associations are not even aware.

This is the first of three follow up blogs to our earlier publication Assignment for the Benefit of Creditors: General Overview. This blog explores ABC’s lack of statutory automatic stay and whether there is a functional and practical equivalent. The next blog will discuss whether a creditor may file a claim after the statutory 120-day deadline. The third blog will examine whether a creditor may file a claim of fraudulent transfer against the estate.