Blogs & Resources

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.

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.

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.

Management of records including creation, retention, access, and destruction, has been a major concern for businesses. This is mainly due to the growth in volume of records (especially electronic data) and the lingering fear of litigation. Once a business is named as a party to suit, high scrutiny is placed on litigants in order to prevent spoliation of evidence that may be relevant to prosecution or defense of the lawsuit. Development and execution of an effective document retention policy is critical as the alternative may result in unfavorable discovery, loss of critical information, unnecessary expenses and adverse judgments. This two part Blog post endeavors to provide small and mid-sized businesses a few an overview what document retention policies are and things to consider when creating an internal document retention policy.

Many creditors have default interest provisions in their contract documents. The highest rate allowable under Florida law for these default provisions is 18% per annum or 1.5% per month. However, creditors almost never address post judgment interest in their contract documents. Such omission leaves them at the mercy of the interest rate set forth in Section 55.03, which states:

This Blog is Part I 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 I focuses on the steps a business owner can take prior to filing a lawsuit against a delinquent customer.

Once a judgment is entered, there are numerous methods that can be utilized to collect on the judgment, including garnishment and levying on real and personal property. But how do you know what is out there to levy against or garnish? The best method for locating assets is often times the simplest – just ask.

Rule 1.560, Florida Rules of Civil Procedure, allows for the use of a deposition as a proper discovery tool post judgment. Utilizing a deposition in aid of execution to ascertain the necessary information to garnish wages or levy on real property may seem simple. However, numerous considerations must be taken into account before making the decision to depose a judgment debtor. Below is a list of items to consider before, during and after taking a deposition in aid of execution.