Davie Business Litigation Attorney

Davie is a town of horse properties, strip-center storefronts, medical practices, contractors, and family-run companies, and when two of the people who own one of those businesses stop agreeing, the dispute usually lands in a courthouse in Broward County. The Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team handles business and real estate litigation for owners, investors, and families in Davie, across Broward County and Palm Beach County, and throughout South Florida.

A Davie business litigation attorney is typically retained for one of a few problems: co-owners who are deadlocked, a partner who has stopped accounting for company money, a contract that one side stopped performing, or a piece of property that several people own and only some want to keep. Each of these runs on a different statute, a different clock, and a different kind of proof. Getting the sequence right early, including which claims to bring, in which court, and whether emergency relief is needed, often shapes the outcome more than anything that happens at trial.

Most Davie disputes are filed in the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit, which sits in and for Broward County, and some belong in federal court in the Southern District of Florida. Where a case starts, and how it is framed, affects its cost, speed, and leverage.

Why Choose the Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team for Davie Business Disputes

The Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team represents business owners, investors, and families in South Florida’s difficult business and real estate disputes, serving clients in Davie, Fort Lauderdale, Boca Raton, West Palm Beach, and throughout Broward and Palm Beach Counties. Andrew M. He holds an undergraduate degree from Emory University (1986) and a law degree from the University of Miami (1989). His career has centered on complex contract disputes, business divorces, and conflicts among partners, LLC members, and shareholders.

Sundeep Nath, Senior Counsel, is a Northwestern-trained litigator with years of experience in business and real estate cases in both state and federal courts. That matters in a market like Davie, where a dispute can sit in Broward circuit court or, depending on the parties and claims, in the federal courthouse in Fort Lauderdale.

The firm practices as a true legal team, which means everyone working on a matter knows the file and can answer when a client calls. There is a strict 24 hour return call policy when the lawyers are in court. Our attorneys are experienced in mediation and arbitration as well as courtroom litigation, and they look for the resolution that fits the client’s goals and budget rather than prolonging a case for its own sake.

The firm also has recent trial proof. After a 5-day bench trial in Broward County, the Circuit Court issued a 32-page final judgment awarding the firm’s client specific performance of a commercial real estate contract. That kind of result rests on detailed preparation: the contract language, the history of the parties’ dealings, and the evidence of who performed and who did not.

Many clients live outside Florida, including in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut, while their business partners or co-owned property are here. The firm handles the local court appearances so those clients do not have to travel for every hearing, and a significant part of the practice comes from referrals by other attorneys.

Business Disputes We Handle for Davie Owners and Investors

• Business Divorce and Partner Disputes: Deadlocked management, buyouts, valuation fights, and breaches of operating or shareholder agreements among LLC members, partners, and shareholders, including minority owners who have been shut out of decisions.
• Judicial Dissolution of LLCs and Corporations: Florida’s LLC statute lets a member or manager seek dissolution when owners are deadlocked and irreparable injury is threatened, when assets are being wasted or misappropriated, or when it is not reasonably practicable to run the company under its operating agreement. Corporate shareholders have a parallel statute with its own buyout election.
• Missing Funds and Accounting Claims: Unpaid distributions, diverted company money, commingled accounts, and managers who cannot explain where cash went, pursued through accounting, breach of fiduciary duty, and recovery claims.
• Complex Contract Litigation: Purchase agreements, operating agreements, commercial leases, loan documents, and construction contracts, where the case often turns on exact wording and course of dealing.
• Family Business Conflicts: Siblings who inherited a company, parents and children with different plans for it, and in-laws or spouses holding ownership interests, handled with discretion alongside the financial claims.
• Partition and Title Disputes: Co-owners of Davie and Broward real estate who need the property divided or sold, plus quiet title actions to clear competing claims of ownership.
• Injunctions and Emergency Relief: Temporary and permanent injunctions to stop assets, records, or real property from being moved or spent while the case is pending.
• Commercial Real Estate and Landlord-Tenant Disputes: Failed closings, purchase and sale contract fights, and lease conflicts between commercial landlords and tenants.

What to Do When a Business Dispute Reaches the Breaking Point

Start by securing the paper trail. Gather the operating agreement or shareholder agreement, the articles of organization or incorporation, bank and accounting records you are entitled to access, tax returns, loan documents, and the emails and texts that show how the owners actually behaved. Do this before the other side controls access to the systems. Do not delete anything, and do not take company records you are not authorized to have, since that can hand the other side a counterclaim.

Then look at the clocks. Florida gives five years to sue on a written contract and four years on an oral or implied one. Fraud claims run four years from discovery, with an outer cap of 12 years. A claim for specific performance has only one year, which is why a buyer or seller in a collapsed real estate deal cannot afford to wait and see. Professional malpractice claims, whether framed in contract or tort, carry two years from when the claim was or should have been discovered. Negligence claims are also two years for causes of action arising after March 24, 2023. These periods are different enough that a single dispute can contain claims on several different timelines, so the earliest deadline controls the plan.

Next, read your agreement for the exit mechanics before anyone files anything. Many operating agreements contain buyout formulas, deadlock sale provisions, or mandatory mediation and arbitration clauses. Under Florida’s LLC statute, a deadlock sale provision that has been properly started before the court finds deadlock grounds can take the place of a judicial dissolution order, so what the agreement says and who triggers it first can matter a great deal.

If money or property is moving, consider emergency relief. A court can issue injunctions, preserve assets, and in appropriate cases appoint a receiver or custodian, though the court must hold a hearing first with notice to the parties. Courts expect a showing of real merit and real urgency, so the evidence you assembled in step one becomes your motion.

Finally, understand where the case will be heard. Claims above the county court ceiling belong in circuit court. Broward’s Seventeenth Circuit has a complex business division that handles dissolution of certain business entities and large business and construction litigation, and a case can be filed directly into it under the circuit’s administrative order, with the Clerk randomly assigning it to a division. Broward civil matters are heard at the Central Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale and at the regional courthouses in Deerfield Beach, Hollywood, and Plantation. If the property or the defendant is in Palm Beach County, the Fifteenth Circuit in West Palm Beach is the venue. Federal court in Fort Lauderdale or West Palm Beach is an option when federal jurisdiction exists.

Dissolution, Buyouts, and Partition: How Florida Courts Actually Separate Co-Owners

When owners cannot continue together, Florida law offers more than a choice between staying and dissolving. In an LLC, a circuit court can dissolve the company on enumerated grounds, including unlawful conduct, misappropriated or wasted assets, impracticability under the operating agreement, and unbreakable deadlock with irreparable injury. Short of dissolution, the court can appoint a receiver or custodian or order a purchase of the petitioning member’s interest. For corporations, a shareholder petition for dissolution triggers a buyout mechanism: the corporation, or other shareholders, may elect to purchase the petitioner’s shares at fair value. If the parties agree on value and terms within 60 days of the first election, the court enters an order on those terms, and the election cannot be withdrawn unless the court finds it equitable. The corporation must also notify the other shareholders within 30 days that they can avoid dissolution by electing to buy.

That leverage matters in negotiation. A minority owner who files a well-supported dissolution claim often changes the other side’s calculus, because the choices become a negotiated buyout at fair value, a court-supervised wind-down, or an unpredictable outcome. The firm’s work in valuation disputes, accounting claims, and fiduciary duty cases supports whichever of those outcomes serves the client.

Real estate raises a parallel set of tools. Partition actions in Florida are equitable proceedings. The complaint must describe the land and identify the owners and their shares. If the court orders partition, it appoints three commissioners, and if they report that division cannot be done without prejudice to the owners, the court may order a public sale and divide the proceeds by ownership interest. A sale on credit requires at least one-third of the purchase price down unless everyone consents otherwise. Inherited property gets special treatment under Florida’s Uniform Partition of Heirs Property Act, which applies when cotenants hold as tenants in common, some acquired title from a relative, and conditions such as twenty percent or more of the interests being held by relatives are met. In those cases partition in kind is favored unless the commissioners find it would prejudice the cotenants as a group.

Quiet title actions address a different problem: a cloud on ownership. A complaint can be filed in any county where part of the land lies, the plaintiff must trace title for at least seven years unless the court orders otherwise, and where the claim is based on a fraudulent attempted conveyance, summary procedure is available and the court advances the case on its calendar.

Davie Business Litigation FAQs

What is a business divorce?

It is the separation of co-owners of a company, whether they are partners, LLC members, or shareholders. It can end in a negotiated buyout, a sale of the business, a structured wind-down, or court-ordered dissolution if the owners cannot agree.

Can I force a business partner out of an LLC in Florida?

It depends on your operating agreement and the conduct involved. Many agreements include buyout, expulsion, or dissociation provisions, and Florida law provides remedies when a member’s conduct is seriously harmful or the company can no longer function. A lawyer should review the agreement before you take any step.

What can I do if a partner is taking money from the business?

You may have claims for breach of fiduciary duty, an accounting, conversion, and recovery of the funds. If assets are being moved, a court can order injunctive relief while the dispute is pending.

How long do I have to sue for breach of contract in Florida?

Five years for a contract founded on a written instrument and four years for oral or implied contracts. A request for specific performance has a one-year period, so those claims need faster action.

Does every business dispute have to go to court?

No. Many are resolved through negotiation, mediation, or arbitration, and some agreements require it. The firm pursues the path most likely to meet the client’s goals efficiently.

I live in New York or New Jersey. Can you handle my Davie business dispute?

Yes. The firm regularly represents clients from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut with business or real estate interests in South Florida, handles the local court appearances, and keeps you informed throughout.

Can a court appoint a receiver over my company?

Yes, in appropriate cases. In dissolution proceedings under Florida’s LLC and corporate statutes, a court may appoint a receiver or custodian after notice and a hearing, typically where assets are at risk or the business cannot be run properly during the case.

What if our operating agreement already has a deadlock sale clause?

It can control. Under the LLC statute, a deadlock sale provision that is initiated before the court finds deadlock grounds applies in place of a judicial dissolution order, so timing and who triggers it matter.

Is it worth litigating a dispute with a family member who co-owns the business?

Often the first goal is a negotiated separation or restructuring, which protects the relationship and the company. If that fails, the same legal tools apply as in any other business dispute, and the firm handles those cases discreetly while protecting the client’s financial interests.

Which court will hear my Davie business case?

Most are filed in the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit for Broward County, and larger business disputes may qualify for its complex business division. County court is for smaller claims, and federal court in the Southern District of Florida is available when federal jurisdiction exists.

Can I stop a co-owner from selling or encumbering shared property?

Sometimes. A court can grant a temporary injunction to preserve property or assets while the case is pending, if you show a real threat of harm that cannot be remedied by money damages later.

Do you accept referrals from other attorneys?

Yes. Many cases come from other lawyers, including out of state attorneys whose clients have Florida disputes. The firm keeps referring counsel informed and respects their client relationship.

Serving Davie and Broward County Business Litigation Clients

Our work for Davie owners reaches across the town, from the Griffin Road and University Drive commercial corridors to the equestrian and rural areas in western Davie, and into neighboring Broward communities including Plantation, Sunrise, Cooper City, Southwest Ranches, Pembroke Pines, Hollywood, Weston, Fort Lauderdale, Deerfield Beach, and Coral Springs. We represent business owners, investors, and families throughout Broward County and across the county line in Palm Beach County, in communities such as Boca Raton, Delray Beach, Boynton Beach, and West Palm Beach. Clients from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut with business or real estate interests anywhere in this region are part of the practice as well.

Talk With a Davie Business Litigation Lawyer

When a partner, tenant, buyer, or co-owner has put your company or property at risk, the early decisions about evidence, deadlines, and forum carry real weight. The Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team brings 37 years of litigation experience and a team that knows every file to disputes in Davie and across South Florida. Call to speak with a Davie business litigation lawyer about your situation and the options available to you.