Delray Beach Contract Litigation Attorney

A contract dispute ends well when the court or the other side treats the agreement as written, the money or performance owed actually arrives, and the business keeps operating. The Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team is a Boca Raton business litigation firm that handles purchase agreements, operating and shareholder agreements, commercial leases, loan documents, and construction contracts for clients in Delray Beach, Palm Beach County, and Broward County. If you need a Delray Beach contract litigation attorney, the work starts with one question: what does the document say, and what did the parties actually do?

Contract cases in southern Palm Beach County rarely turn on dramatic facts. They turn on a clause. A notice provision that was never followed, an indemnity carve-out buried in a schedule, a closing date extended by email and never memorialized. Delray Beach has a dense mix of owner-operated restaurants, medical and professional practices, investment properties, and out-of-state owners with local holdings, and each of these generates agreements that go wrong in predictable ways.

The deadline pressure is also real. Florida gives five years to sue on a written contract, but only four for an oral or implied agreement, and just one year for an action seeking specific performance. A claim that looks comfortably timely can be closer to the edge than the client realizes.

Why Clients Hire the Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team for Contract Disputes

Contract enforcement and interpretation have been at the center of Andrew M. Schwartz’s practice for his entire career. Andrew, the firm’s founder, was admitted to The Florida Bar in 1989 and has spent 37 years in litigation, with a career built around complex contract disputes, business divorces, and conflicts among partners, LLC members, and shareholders. He earned his undergraduate degree from Emory University in 1986 and his law degree from the University of Miami in 1989. 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.

The firm serves business owners, investors, and families across Palm Beach County and Broward County, and also represents clients from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut who have business or real estate interests in South Florida. Those clients do not have to travel for every hearing; the firm handles local court appearances and keeps them informed at each stage.

Results matter more than adjectives. After a five-day bench trial, the Broward County Circuit Court issued a 32-page final judgment awarding the firm’s client specific performance of a commercial real estate contract. That outcome is a good illustration of what contract litigation actually involves: a judge reading a lengthy record against the precise terms of an agreement, and a remedy that forces a party to do what it promised rather than merely pay damages.

The firm practices as a true legal team, so everyone working on a matter knows the file. Calls are answered, and a strict 24 hour return call policy applies when the attorneys are in court. The 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. A meaningful share of the firm’s work also comes from referrals by other attorneys, including out of state lawyers whose clients have disputes in Florida.

Contract Disputes We Handle for Delray Beach Businesses and Owners

• Purchase and Sale Agreements: Failed closings, disputed deposits, financing and inspection contingencies, and seller or buyer refusals to perform. Where money damages cannot replace a specific property or business, a court may be asked to order the deal completed.
• Operating and Shareholder Agreements: Breaches of buy-sell provisions, transfer restrictions, capital call obligations, and distribution rights among LLC members and shareholders, often alongside fiduciary duty claims.
• Commercial Leases: Rent and common area charge disputes, personal guaranties, improper terminations, and landlord or tenant defaults involving retail, office, and mixed-use space in and around downtown Delray Beach.
• Loan Documents and Guaranties: Disputes between lenders, borrowers, and guarantors over default, acceleration, interest calculations, and the reach of a personal guaranty.
• Construction Contracts: Payment disputes between owners, general contractors, and subcontractors, change order fights, delay claims, and defective work allegations on residential and commercial projects.
• Unpaid Distributions and Diverted Funds: Claims for an accounting, recovery of company money, and emergency relief when a partner or manager cannot explain where funds went.
• Restrictive Covenants and Business Sale Terms: Disputes over post-sale obligations, earn-outs, and the enforceability of agreements tied to a sale or a departure from a company.
• Injunctive Relief: Temporary and permanent injunctions, including emergency requests, when a contract breach threatens assets, property, or a business that cannot wait for final judgment.

What to Do Once a Contract Dispute Becomes Serious

Start by locating the final signed version of the agreement and every amendment, side letter, and written modification. Then gather the paper trail around performance: invoices, payment records, notices, emails, text messages, and anything showing how the parties actually behaved. Courts read the contract first, but a course of dealing can explain an ambiguous term or show a waiver, so the history matters.

Read the contract for the provisions that control the fight before you send anything. Look for notice and cure requirements, a choice of law or venue clause, an arbitration or mediation requirement, a prevailing-party attorney fee provision, and any limitation on damages. A demand letter that ignores a mandatory notice procedure can hand the other side an argument. Do not stop paying or performing on your own side without understanding what that does to your claim.

Preserve evidence deliberately. Keep original emails and messages, do not delete anything, and avoid fresh written exchanges with the other party that characterize the dispute loosely. If money is moving out of a company or property is about to be transferred, say so early; that is the situation in which a court can be asked for injunctive relief before the case is decided.

Where a lawsuit is filed matters. Palm Beach County cases are heard in the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit, and Broward County cases in the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit. County courts hear claims up to a ceiling that sets the line with circuit court, and small claims sit below that; larger commercial disputes belong in circuit court. The Palm Beach County courthouse serving the south end of the county is located in Delray Beach, but the main circuit civil docket sits in West Palm Beach. Broward’s circuit has a complex business division that handles large business and construction litigation, which can be relevant when a dispute crosses the county line. Contracts between parties in different states, or with sufficient diversity, can also end up in the federal Southern District of Florida, which sits in Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach.

Before filing, many disputes are worth a serious attempt at mediation or negotiation, particularly when the contract requires it. A resolution reached early often costs far less than a trial record, and it lets the parties keep doing business if that is still possible.

Remedies, Deadlines, and How a Contract Case Is Decided

The remedy you want shapes the case. Money damages are the default, but they are not the only path. Rescission undoes a contract and carries a four-year limitations period. Fraud claims run four years from discovery, subject to a twelve-year outer limit. Specific performance, which compels a party to complete the promised transaction, must be brought within one year. A claim founded on a written instrument has five years. Those differences can decide which theories remain available, and a single dispute often supports several, each with its own clock.

Because a one-year specific performance window is so short, owners who want a property or business transferred, rather than a payout, cannot afford to wait while negotiations drag on. Contract cases also overlap with other claims that have shorter deadlines. Professional malpractice, even when founded on a contract, carries a two-year period running from discovery, and negligence now has a two-year period for causes of action that accrued after the 2023 reform. The five-year written contract period was not changed by that reform.

These cases are decided on the language of the agreement, the credibility of the people who negotiated it, and the documents that show what happened next. That is why the firm prepares each matter to the level of the individual clause, and why a lengthy bench trial record can produce a detailed final judgment.

Contract Litigation Questions From Delray Beach Clients

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

Five years for an action founded on a written instrument. An oral or implied contract has four years, and the clock generally runs from the breach rather than from when the agreement was signed.

Does the deadline differ if I want the court to force the other side to perform?

Yes. An action for specific performance has a one-year period, much shorter than the standard contract deadline, so owners seeking a completed sale or transfer should evaluate that claim promptly.

What is the difference between damages and specific performance?

Damages compensate you in money for the loss caused by the breach. Specific performance orders the breaching party to carry out the contract, which is used when the subject, such as a particular parcel or business interest, cannot be replaced with cash.

Which court will hear my contract case?

That depends on the amount in controversy and the parties. Smaller claims go to county court, with small claims below that, while larger commercial disputes go to the circuit court for the county where the case is properly filed, Palm Beach County’s Fifteenth Circuit or Broward County’s Seventeenth Circuit. Some cases can reach federal court in the Southern District of Florida.

My contract has an arbitration clause. Can I still go to court?

Often not as a first step. Courts generally enforce valid arbitration provisions, so the clause may require you to arbitrate. The wording of the clause, including its scope and any carve-outs for injunctive relief, determines what is possible.

The other party never signed. Is the contract still enforceable?

It can be. Performance, partial payment, and a course of dealing can show assent, and some agreements do not require every signature. The answer depends on the document and the conduct, which is why the full history is reviewed.

Can a verbal agreement support a lawsuit?

Yes, within limits. Oral contracts are enforceable in many circumstances, but they are harder to prove and have a shorter limitations period than written ones. Certain categories of agreement must be in writing to be enforced at all.

Can I recover my attorney fees if I win?

Only if the contract or a statute provides for it. Many commercial agreements contain a prevailing-party fee clause, and these provisions can cut both ways, so they should be read before a lawsuit is filed.

What if the other side is moving assets while the case is pending?

You can ask the court for temporary or emergency injunctive relief to stop assets from being moved or spent. This is a separate request from the underlying contract claim and is made early when the risk is concrete.

I live in New York or New Jersey but the contract concerns Florida property. Do I have to come to court?

Not for routine proceedings. The firm handles local court appearances for out of state clients and keeps them informed, so travel can generally be limited to the events where your own presence is truly needed.

Is it worth litigating a mid-sized contract dispute?

Sometimes, and sometimes mediation is the better course. The decision turns on the amount at stake, the strength of the documents, the other side’s ability to pay, and whether a fee-shifting clause applies. A candid early assessment of those factors is usually the right first conversation.

Contract Litigation Representation Across Delray Beach and South Florida

The firm represents clients from the Delray Beach downtown core along Atlantic Avenue through the beachfront corridor, the Pineapple Grove and Old School Square areas, and neighborhoods west of the Intracoastal Waterway toward Lake Ida. Clients also come from Boynton Beach, Highland Beach, Gulf Stream, Ocean Ridge, Lantana, Lake Worth Beach, and Boca Raton to the south. Further into Palm Beach County, the firm works with owners and investors in Wellington, Royal Palm Beach, Jupiter, Palm Beach Gardens, and West Palm Beach.

The firm’s work extends into Broward County, including Fort Lauderdale, Deerfield Beach, Pompano Beach, Coral Springs, Plantation, Hollywood, and Davie. Because many of these disputes involve people who live elsewhere, the firm also serves clients in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut whose business partners, tenants, or co-owners are in South Florida.

Speak With a Delray Beach Contract Litigation Lawyer

When a contract has been breached and the deadlines are running, a conversation with a Delray Beach contract litigation lawyer at the Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team can establish what remedies are open to you and how quickly they must be pursued. Call the firm to discuss the agreement, the dispute, and the practical path, whether that is negotiation, mediation, arbitration, or a lawsuit in court.