Fort Lauderdale Business Litigation Attorney

When a co-owner stops answering questions about the books, or a contract partner walks away from a deal worth real money, the dispute usually lands in Broward County’s courts. The Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team handles business litigation and real estate litigation for owners, investors, and families across South Florida, and a Fort Lauderdale business litigation attorney from our firm can step in before a disagreement hardens into lost assets or a frozen company.

Business disputes in Fort Lauderdale tend to be document-heavy and deadline-driven. The outcome often depends on a single clause in an operating agreement, the timing of a filing, or whether emergency relief was requested before funds moved. Broward County also has a dedicated complex business division within the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit, which handles matters such as dissolutions of certain business entities and large commercial and construction cases, so knowing how a case gets routed matters from the first filing.

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

The Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team represents business owners, investors, and families throughout Broward County, Palm Beach County, and the rest of South Florida, with a practice built around business divorce, partnership and member disputes, complex contract litigation, partition actions, and real estate litigation. Andrew M. Schwartz, the firm’s founder, has spent 37 years in litigation and has practiced in Florida since being admitted to The Florida Bar in 1989. He earned his undergraduate degree from Emory University in 1986 and his law degree from the University of Miami in 1989. Senior Counsel Sundeep Nath, a Northwestern-trained litigator, adds years of experience in business and real estate cases in both state and federal courts, which matters in a market where the Southern District of Florida sits in Fort Lauderdale.

The firm works as a true legal team: everyone on a matter knows the file, so a client who calls with a question reaches someone who can answer it. A strict 24 hour return call policy applies when attorneys are in court. That approach has produced results at trial. After a 5-day bench trial, a Broward County Circuit Court judge issued a 32-page final judgment awarding the firm’s client specific performance of a commercial real estate contract. Because specific performance claims carry a short limitations period, that outcome reflects the kind of timing discipline these cases demand.

Mr. Schwartz often tells clients that what they want is a lawyer who acts as the situation requires and uses finesse when finesse will do. The firm is experienced in mediation and arbitration as well as courtroom litigation, and it looks for the resolution that fits the client’s goals and budget rather than prolonging a case for its own sake.

Types of Business Disputes We Handle in Fort Lauderdale

• Business Divorce: Co-owners who can no longer work together may need a negotiated buyout, a sale, a structured wind-down, or court-ordered dissolution. Deadlocked management and valuation fights are the most common triggers.
• LLC Member and Shareholder Disputes: Minority owners who are frozen out, denied information, or outvoted often have claims for breach of the operating or shareholder agreement and for breach of fiduciary duty.
• Complex Contract Litigation: Purchase agreements, commercial leases, loan documents, construction contracts, and operating agreements frequently turn on exact wording and the parties’ course of dealing.
• Missing Funds and Accounting Claims: Unpaid distributions, commingled accounts, diverted company money, and disputed capital contributions can support claims for an accounting and recovery of funds.
• Injunctions and Emergency Relief: When assets are being moved or a vital business interest is at risk, temporary and permanent injunctions can freeze the situation while the case proceeds.
• Partition and Title Disputes: Co-owners of real estate, including former business partners, heirs, and unmarried couples, may need a partition action or a quiet title action to separate interests or clear competing claims.
• Commercial Real Estate Litigation: Failed closings, purchase and sale contract disputes, and landlord and tenant conflicts often end in claims for damages or specific performance.
• Family Business Conflicts: Siblings, parents and children, and in-laws who share ownership face questions of control and compensation that require discretion alongside firm protection of financial interests.

What to Do When a Business Dispute Reaches the Breaking Point

Start by gathering the documents that define the relationship: the operating agreement or shareholder agreement, any buy-sell terms, the contract at issue, bank and accounting records, tax filings, and the emails or letters showing how the parties actually behaved. Operating agreements often contain deadlock provisions, buyout mechanics, and dispute resolution clauses such as mandatory mediation or arbitration, and those terms can control which forum hears the case and what remedies exist. Under Florida’s LLC statute, a deadlock sale provision that is initiated before a court finds grounds for dissolution can take the place of a judicial dissolution order, so the order of events can matter.

Deadlines deserve attention early. A claim on a written contract generally must be filed within five years, while oral or implied contract claims have four years, and fraud claims run four years from discovery subject to a 12 year outer limit. Specific performance of a contract carries only a one year period, and professional malpractice claims have two years from when the claim was or should have been discovered. Waiting to see whether a partner changes course can quietly consume these periods.

If money is leaving the company or property is about to be transferred, say so immediately, because injunctive relief depends on acting while there is still something to protect. Avoid the common mistakes of confronting the other owner by text, deleting records, withdrawing company funds in retaliation, or signing a new agreement without review. Each of these can hand the other side an argument.

Where the case is filed depends on the amount and the claim. County courts in Florida hear disputes up to a threshold set by statute, and circuit court handles larger claims and matters such as dissolutions and injunctions. In Broward, circuit civil cases are heard through the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit, with the Central Judicial Complex in Fort Lauderdale serving as the main venue and regional courthouses in Deerfield Beach, Hollywood, and Plantation. Cases involving federal questions or diverse parties may proceed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida, which holds court in Fort Lauderdale. Complex cases can be directed to a business division under the circuit’s administrative order, and the clerk randomly assigns directly filed complex matters.

How Judicial Dissolution and Buyouts Work for Florida Companies

When owners cannot continue together, Florida law gives courts defined tools. For an LLC, a manager or member may seek judicial dissolution on specific grounds: the company’s affairs are conducted unlawfully, it is not reasonably practicable to operate under the articles and operating agreement, controlling members have acted or are expected to act illegally or fraudulently, assets are being misappropriated or wasted, or the owners are deadlocked and irreparable injury is threatened or occurring. On a showing of sufficient merit, the court may appoint a receiver or custodian after notice and a hearing, or order a purchase of the petitioning member’s interest.

Corporations have a parallel framework. A shareholder may petition a circuit court for dissolution on listed grounds, including abandonment of the business without liquidating within a reasonable time. Once a dissolution proceeding of that kind begins, the corporation must notify the other shareholders within 30 days that they can avoid dissolution by electing 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 directing the purchase. An election to purchase is irrevocable unless the court finds it equitable to modify it. During the case, the court can issue injunctions, appoint a receiver or custodian, and take other steps to preserve assets.

These remedies often shape negotiation more than they shape trial. A credible dissolution petition, paired with a request for a custodian or an injunction, changes what a business partner is willing to offer in a buyout. The firm evaluates whether the relationship can be preserved, whether a negotiated separation makes sense, or whether litigation is the only way to protect the client.

Real Estate Co-Ownership, Partition, and Quiet Title in Broward County

Co-owned property is a frequent source of litigation between former business partners, heirs, and investors. In Florida, partition actions are heard in equity under Chapter 64. The complaint must describe the land, identify the owners and their residences, and state each owner’s share. After a judgment of partition, the court appoints three commissioners, unless the parties agree, to determine whether the land can be divided fairly. If division would prejudice the owners, the court may order a sale at public auction and divide the proceeds by ownership interest.

Inherited property carries additional protections. Florida’s Uniform Partition of Heirs Property Act applies to partition cases filed on or after its effective date and governs qualifying tenancies in common where cotenants acquired title from relatives and certain other conditions are met, including that relatives hold at least twenty percent of the interests. A court will not order partition in kind unless it finds the cotenants as a group would be prejudiced. Whether a property qualifies can change the entire strategy.

Quiet title actions address a different problem: clouds on title and competing ownership claims. The plaintiff must trace title back at least seven years unless the court orders otherwise, and the action may be filed in any county where part of the land lies. Related adverse possession claims require seven years of continuous possession and, in some cases, recorded instruments or property appraiser filings. These disputes frequently arise when a business partner or family member holds record title to property the client believes they own.

Fort Lauderdale Business Litigation Questions, Answered

What is a business divorce?

A business divorce is the separation of co-owners, whether partners, LLC members, or shareholders. It may be resolved through a negotiated buyout, a sale of the company, a structured wind-down, or court-ordered dissolution when the owners cannot agree.

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

It depends on the operating agreement and the conduct involved. Many agreements include buyout, expulsion, or dissociation provisions, and Florida law provides remedies when a member has engaged in serious misconduct or the company cannot function. An attorney can review the agreement and explain which options are available.

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

You may have claims for breach of fiduciary duty, an accounting, conversion, and recovery of the funds. In urgent situations, a court can order injunctive relief to stop assets from being moved or spent while the dispute is pending.

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

Five years for a claim founded on a written instrument. Oral or implied contracts have four years, and a claim for specific performance has one year. The deadline generally runs from when the claim accrues, so documenting dates early is important.

Does every business dispute have to go to court?

No. Many disputes are resolved through negotiation, mediation, or arbitration, and many agreements require one of those steps before suit. The firm has experience in alternative dispute resolution and pursues the path most likely to reach the client’s goals efficiently.

Which court will hear my case, state or federal?

Most business disputes between Florida parties are filed in state circuit court, which in Broward County is the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit. Federal court in Fort Lauderdale becomes available when there is a federal claim or when the parties are from different states and the legal requirements are met.

What is the Broward complex business division, and could my case qualify?

The Seventeenth Circuit created business and tort divisions for complex matters, including dissolutions of certain business entities, large business and construction litigation, and assignments for the benefit of creditors. A case may be filed directly into the division under the circuit’s administrative order using the required form, and the clerk then assigns it randomly to a division.

I live in New York or New Jersey. Can you handle my Fort Lauderdale dispute?

Yes. The firm regularly represents clients from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut who have business or real estate interests in South Florida. The firm handles local court appearances and keeps you informed so you do not need to travel for every hearing.

Can a judge order a business sold or a partner bought out?

In appropriate cases, yes. Florida courts can order dissolution, appoint a receiver or custodian, or direct the purchase of a petitioning owner’s interest at fair value. If the operating or shareholder agreement has a deadlock sale provision, that provision may control instead.

What happens if my partner accepted money while we were in dispute and now claims I owe more?

Payments made during a dispute can complicate accounting claims and valuation, so keep records of every transfer and avoid informal side agreements. An accounting can sort out what each owner contributed and received, and courts look closely at commingled funds.

Do you work with other attorneys on Florida business cases?

Yes. A significant part of the firm’s practice comes from referrals by other lawyers, including out of state attorneys whose clients have Florida disputes. The firm communicates with referring counsel throughout and respects their relationship with the client.

Is it worth hiring a lawyer before a dispute turns into a lawsuit?

Often, yes. Early review of an operating agreement, a demand letter, or an outside general counsel arrangement can prevent a disagreement from escalating. The firm’s general counsel program includes serving as the company’s registered agent and helping with contract and compliance questions.

Serving Business Litigation Clients Across Broward and Palm Beach Counties

The firm represents clients in Fort Lauderdale and throughout Broward County, including Wilton Manors, Oakland Park, Pompano Beach, Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, Deerfield Beach, Coral Springs, Parkland, Plantation, Sunrise, Davie, Hollywood, Hallandale Beach, Dania Beach, Pembroke Pines, and Miramar. Businesses along the Las Olas corridor, in downtown Fort Lauderdale, near Port Everglades, and in the commercial districts along Commercial Boulevard and Oakland Park Boulevard routinely rely on our team for contract and ownership disputes.

Our work extends north into Palm Beach County, including Boca Raton, Delray Beach, Boynton Beach, Lake Worth Beach, West Palm Beach, and Palm Beach Gardens, and we represent clients from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut who hold business or real estate interests across South Florida. Whether the matter involves a closely held company, a commercial property, or a family-owned business, the firm brings the same attention to the file from first call to resolution.

Speak With a Fort Lauderdale Business Litigation Lawyer

If a partner, member, or counterparty has put your company, your investment, or your property at risk, a conversation with a Fort Lauderdale business litigation lawyer at the Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team can clarify your position and the deadlines that apply. Call the firm to schedule a consultation and learn which path fits your goals, whether that is negotiation, mediation, or filing suit.