Davie Contract Litigation Attorney

The Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team represents business owners, investors, landlords, and co-owners in Davie and across Broward County when a signed agreement stops being honored. Our work covers purchase agreements, operating and shareholder agreements, commercial leases, loan documents, and construction contracts, and we handle the disputes that grow out of them in state court, in arbitration, and in mediation. If you are looking for a Davie contract litigation attorney, the first thing worth knowing is that contract cases are won and lost on paper: the exact words, the sequence of events, and the deadlines.

Davie sits in the middle of a county with a heavy volume of commercial activity, from equestrian and agricultural properties on its western edge to retail centers, professional offices, and development parcels along its main corridors. Contracts tied to that kind of land and business activity tend to be large, layered, and expensive to break. A missed closing, a withheld payment, or a partner who ignores the terms can freeze a project or a company quickly.

A contract dispute is also a different animal from a tort claim or a partnership fight, even though they often overlap. Here the question is narrow and demanding: what did the parties promise in writing, did one of them fail to deliver, and what does the law let you recover? The answers depend on language, not on who seems more sympathetic.

Why Choose the Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team for Contract Disputes

The Andrew M. Contract enforcement and interpretation have been at the center of founder Andrew M. Schwartz’s work for his entire career. He was admitted to The Florida Bar in 1989, earned his undergraduate degree at Emory University in 1986 and his law degree at the University of Miami in 1989, and has spent 37 years in litigation.

Senior Counsel Sundeep Nath, a Northwestern-trained litigator, brings years of experience in business and real estate cases in both state and federal courts. That matters in Davie, because contract disputes can land in Broward County circuit court or, where the right jurisdictional footing exists, in the federal Southern District of Florida.

The firm practices as a true legal team, so everyone working on your matter knows the file and can answer when you call. We keep a strict 24 hour return call policy when we are in court or otherwise unavailable, and we schedule conference calls at times that work for everyone involved. We are experienced in mediation and arbitration as well as courtroom litigation, and we look for the resolution that fits your goals and budget rather than stretching a case out for its own sake.

Proof of results matters in this practice. After a 5-day bench trial, a Broward County circuit judge entered a 32-page final judgment awarding our client specific performance of a commercial real estate contract. That outcome required exactly what contract litigation demands: reading an agreement closely, building the factual record around it, and trying the case carefully.

Types of Contract Disputes We Handle for Davie Businesses and Property Owners

• Purchase and Sale Agreements: Failed closings, buyers who walk away from a deposit dispute, sellers who refuse to convey, and disagreements over contingencies, inspection periods, and financing deadlines. When a buyer wants the property rather than money damages, specific performance may be the remedy to pursue.
• Operating Agreements and Shareholder Agreements: Disputes over buyout terms, valuation formulas, capital calls, transfer restrictions, and management authority. The agreement usually controls first, and Florida’s LLC and corporate statutes fill the gaps.
• Commercial Leases: Rent and common-area charge disputes, personal guaranties, default and termination clauses, and landlord-tenant conflicts over build-out obligations and use restrictions.
• Loan Documents and Guaranties: Disagreements between lenders, borrowers, and guarantors over default, acceleration, payoff amounts, and what a guarantor actually signed up for.
• Construction Contracts: Payment disputes between owners, contractors, and subcontractors; defective or incomplete work; change orders that were never papered; and delay claims on commercial and residential projects.
• Unpaid Distributions and Diverted Funds: Contract claims that sit alongside demands for an accounting, breach of fiduciary duty, and recovery of company money, sometimes with a request for emergency relief to stop assets from moving.
• Business Divorce Agreements: Breaches of buy-sell provisions, deadlock mechanisms, and separation agreements between former partners or family co-owners.

What to Do When a Contract Is Breached

Start by pulling together the complete record before anything else happens. That means the signed agreement and every amendment, the emails and texts that show how the parties actually dealt with each other, invoices, payment records, notices sent or received, and anything that shows what you did to perform. Courts read contracts in light of the parties’ dealings, and a gap in your paper trail is easier to fill now than after a lawsuit is filed.

Read the agreement for its own procedures before you respond to the other side. Many contracts require written notice of default, a cure period, mediation, or arbitration before anyone can sue. Skipping a required step can hand the other party an argument that your claim is premature. Likewise, be careful about what you say in writing. A heated email conceding a point or declaring the deal dead can be used against you later.

Watch the clock. Florida gives you five years to sue on a contract founded on a written instrument, and four years on an oral or implied contract. A claim to rescind a contract has four years. Fraud claims run four years from discovery, with an outer limit of twelve. A suit for specific performance carries just one year, which is far shorter than most people expect and is the deadline most likely to catch a buyer or seller off guard. Where the real issue is professional malpractice, even if it arose from a contract, the period is two years from discovery. Because the right deadline depends on how the claim is characterized, get the analysis early rather than assuming the longest period applies.

Where the case is filed depends on the amount at stake. County court handles disputes up to a set ceiling, small claims handles the smallest, and circuit court hears larger claims and cases seeking remedies like injunctions and specific performance. For Davie, circuit civil matters are heard in the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit, which sits in and for Broward County, with the main civil division at the Central Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale and regional courthouses in the county as well. Broward also has a complex business court within the circuit that handles large business and construction litigation and certain business dissolutions, and a qualifying case can be directed into it at filing under the circuit’s administrative order. Federal court in Fort Lauderdale is an option only when federal jurisdiction actually exists.

Finally, ask whether you need emergency relief. If the other side is moving money, transferring property, or about to dispose of the very asset you contracted for, waiting for a final judgment may mean winning a case with nothing left to collect. Temporary and permanent injunctions are part of our regular practice for that reason.

Remedies in Florida Contract Cases: Damages, Specific Performance, and Rescission

Most contract cases end in money damages, meaning the amount needed to put the non-breaching party where performance would have placed them. Proving that number takes records, sometimes expert testimony, and a clean causal link between the breach and the loss.

Specific performance is the alternative when money will not do the job. Real property is the classic example, because every parcel is unique and a buyer under contract may want the land, not a refund. The remedy is equitable, so the court looks at the contract’s clarity, the plaintiff’s own performance or readiness to perform, and the fairness of compelling the transfer. Remember the one-year limitations period noted above.

Rescission unwinds the deal and returns each side to its starting position, and it is usually tied to fraud, mistake, or a failure of the agreement’s basic purpose. Contract language also matters on the back end: many agreements contain attorney’s fee provisions, which can make the cost of a dispute run in one direction and sometimes both. Review that clause before deciding whether to sue or settle.

Contract Disputes Between Co-Owners and Partners

Some of the hardest contract fights involve people who own something together. When the dispute is over an LLC or corporation, the operating or shareholder agreement is the starting point, and it may already contain a buyout formula or a deadlock sale mechanism. Florida law backs that up: if a deadlock sale provision in an LLC operating agreement is initiated before the court finds grounds for dissolution, that provision can take the place of a judicial dissolution order.

Where the agreement does not solve the problem, Florida’s statutes provide court remedies. A member or manager can seek judicial dissolution of an LLC on grounds such as deadlock with threatened irreparable injury, misappropriated or wasted assets, or the impracticability of carrying on under the operating agreement. The court can appoint a receiver or custodian after a hearing, or order a purchase of the petitioner’s interest. For corporations, a shareholder petition for dissolution can prompt the corporation or other shareholders to elect to purchase the petitioner’s shares at fair value, and if the parties agree on value and terms within 60 days after the first election is filed, the court enters an order on those terms. Those procedures work best when the contract claims and the dissolution claims are pleaded together and sequenced thoughtfully.

Frequently Asked Questions About Contract Litigation in Davie

What counts as a breach of contract in Florida?

A breach occurs when a party fails to perform a promise in the agreement without legal excuse. The failure can be total, such as refusing to deliver or pay, or partial, such as delivering late or short. Whether a breach is serious enough to excuse the other side’s performance depends on the contract’s terms and the facts.

How long do I have to file a breach of contract lawsuit?

For a contract founded on a written instrument, Florida allows five years. For an oral or implied contract, the period is four years. Other claims connected to the same dispute may carry different deadlines, so each theory needs to be checked separately.

What is specific performance, and how long do I have to ask for it?

It is a court order requiring a party to carry out the contract rather than pay damages, most often used in real estate deals. A specific performance action must be brought within one year, which is much shorter than the general contract deadline.

Does an oral agreement count as a contract?

Often yes, and it carries a four-year limitations period. The difficulty is proof, since there is no document to point to. Some categories of agreements, including many involving real estate, generally must be in writing to be enforced, so the type of deal matters a great deal.

Do I have to go to court, or can this be resolved through mediation or arbitration?

Many contracts require mediation or arbitration before or instead of a lawsuit, and many disputes settle through negotiation even without such a clause. Our attorneys have experience in mediation and arbitration as well as the courtroom, and we pursue whichever path is most likely to serve your goals efficiently.

Where would my case be heard if the other party is in Davie?

Disputes of this kind are generally heard in the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit, which sits in and for Broward County, with smaller claims in county court. Venue also depends on where the contract was to be performed and any forum clause the parties signed, so the agreement should be reviewed before filing.

Can I recover my attorney’s fees in a contract case?

Only if the contract or a statute provides for them. Many commercial agreements include a prevailing-party fee clause, which can cut either way. Read it carefully before you sue or settle, because it can change the economics of the whole case.

What if the other side is spending or hiding money while the case is pending?

You may be able to ask the court for emergency injunctive relief to stop assets from being moved or spent. Courts require a showing that waiting for a final judgment would cause real harm, so documentation of what is happening matters. This is especially important in cases involving diverted company funds.

I live in New York or New Jersey but the deal involves Florida property or a Florida partner. Can you handle it?

Yes. We regularly represent clients from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut with business or real estate interests in South Florida. We handle the local court appearances and keep you informed so you do not have to travel for every hearing.

Is it worth hiring a lawyer for a smaller contract dispute?

Often it is worth at least a review. A short consultation can tell you whether the claim is strong, whether a demand letter might resolve it, and whether the amount justifies filing. Where a small claim sits within the lower court limits, the cost-benefit analysis is different, and we will say so plainly.

Can a contract dispute also involve claims against the person, not just the company?

Sometimes. Personal guaranties make an individual directly liable, and conduct like diverting funds or misusing a manager’s authority can support separate claims for breach of fiduciary duty or an accounting. Who can be named depends on what was signed and what was done.

Contract Litigation Representation Across Davie and Broward County

Our work for Davie clients starts with the town itself and extends outward through the rest of Broward County. We represent business owners and property owners in Davie and the neighboring communities of Cooper City, Plantation, Sunrise, Southwest Ranches, Pembroke Pines, Weston, and Hollywood, as well as Fort Lauderdale, where much of the county’s civil litigation is heard. We also serve clients in Coral Springs, Parkland, Deerfield Beach, Lauderhill, Tamarac, Margate, Coconut Creek, and Pompano Beach.

Further north, we represent clients throughout Palm Beach County, including Boca Raton, West Palm Beach, Delray Beach, and Boynton Beach. Many of our clients live outside Florida, and we regularly work with people in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut whose contracts, partners, or investment property are here in South Florida. Whether the dispute involves a Broward County lease, a Palm Beach County purchase contract, or an agreement that spans both, we handle the proceedings locally.

Speak With a Davie Contract Litigation Lawyer at the Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team

If a contract has been breached, or you have been accused of breaching one, the sooner the agreement and the facts are reviewed, the more options you will have. Some deadlines are short, and evidence is easier to preserve early than to reconstruct later. A Davie contract litigation lawyer at the Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team can read your agreement, explain what the law allows, and recommend a path that fits your goals and your budget.

Call our team to discuss your dispute. We will tell you candidly whether litigation, negotiation, or another route makes the most sense, and we will respond promptly when you reach out.