Hallandale Beach Contract Litigation Attorney

Most contract disputes end in one of three places: the other side performs what it promised, pays what it owes, or a court tells it to. The Hallandale Beach contract litigation attorney team at the Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team helps business owners, investors, and families reach whichever of those outcomes fits the situation, from purchase agreements and operating agreements to commercial leases, loan documents, and construction contracts. The firm handles contract, business, and real estate disputes for clients in Hallandale Beach, throughout Broward County and Palm Beach County, and across South Florida.

Hallandale Beach sits on the southern edge of Broward County, with condominium towers along the coast, commercial corridors along US-1 and Hallandale Beach Boulevard, and investors from the Northeast and elsewhere holding units and buildings here. That mix produces a particular kind of contract fight: failed closings on commercial and residential property, disagreements among co-owners about what an operating agreement actually requires, lease defaults, unpaid contractor and vendor obligations, and loan documents that a lender or borrower reads very differently once something goes wrong. These cases tend to turn on exact wording and on the history between the parties, and that is where preparation pays off.

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

The Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team represents business owners, investors, and families in South Florida’s difficult business and real estate disputes, with clients in Hallandale Beach, Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach, Boca Raton, and the surrounding parts of Broward and Palm Beach Counties. Contract enforcement and interpretation have been at the center of Andrew M. Schwartz’s practice throughout his 37 years in litigation. He was admitted to The Florida Bar in 1989, earned his undergraduate degree from Emory University in 1986 and his law degree from the University of Miami in 1989, and has practiced litigation in Florida ever since.

Andrew is joined by Senior Counsel Sundeep Nath, a Northwestern-trained litigator with years of experience in business and real estate cases in both state and federal courts. That federal experience matters in contract work, because disputes between parties in different states sometimes belong in the Southern District of Florida rather than state court. The firm practices as a true legal team, meaning everyone working on a file knows it and can speak to you when you call. A strict 24 hour return call policy applies when someone is in court, and scheduled conference calls are arranged at times that work for everyone.

The firm’s results include a recent commercial real estate matter in Broward County Circuit Court. After a 5-day bench trial, the court issued a 32-page final judgment awarding the firm’s client specific performance of a commercial real estate contract, which means the court ordered the deal to be carried out rather than simply awarding money. Our attorneys are also experienced in mediation and arbitration, and we look for the resolution that serves the client’s goals and budget rather than prolonging a case for its own sake. Much of the practice comes from referrals by other attorneys, including out of state lawyers whose clients have disputes here, and we keep referring counsel informed throughout.

Types of Contract Disputes We Handle for Hallandale Beach Clients

• Purchase and Sale Agreement Disputes: Failed closings, buyers or sellers who walk away, disputes over deposits, and claims that a party defaulted. Where money cannot replace the property, a court can order the sale completed.
• Operating and Shareholder Agreement Breaches: Disagreements about management authority, distributions, buyout terms, transfer restrictions, and what an owner is obligated to contribute, often among co-owners who once agreed on everything.
• Commercial Lease Disputes: Rent defaults, build-out and repair obligations, personal guaranties, early termination, and disputes about use restrictions in retail and office space along Hallandale Beach’s commercial corridors.
• Loan and Financing Documents: Defaults, acceleration, guaranties, and disputes between lenders, borrowers, and private investors about what the loan documents actually require.
• Construction Contracts: Payment disputes between owners, contractors, and subcontractors, incomplete work, and change-order disagreements on condominium and commercial projects.
• Unpaid Distributions and Missing Funds: Claims involving diverted company money, commingled accounts, disputed capital contributions, and partners who cannot account for funds, often paired with claims for an accounting and breach of fiduciary duty.
• Injunctions Tied to Contract Disputes: Emergency and temporary relief when a party threatens to move assets, transfer property, or take action that cannot be undone while the case is pending.
• Family and Close-Knit Business Contracts: Agreements among relatives and longtime friends that were thin on paper, where the history of dealing between the parties carries much of the weight.

What to Do Right Now When a Contract Has Been Breached

Start by gathering the paper. Collect the signed agreement and every amendment, side letter, and exhibit, along with emails, text messages, invoices, payment records, and anything showing how the parties actually behaved. Courts read contracts by their words, but the course of dealing between the parties often decides what ambiguous words mean, so the communications around the deal matter nearly as much as the document itself. Preserve everything and do not delete messages, even ones you think look bad for you.

Read the agreement for its own procedures before doing anything else. Many contracts require written notice of default, a cure period, mediation, or arbitration before anyone can sue, and skipping those steps can cost you leverage or get a case delayed. Some also contain attorney fee provisions, venue clauses, or deadlines shorter than the statutory ones. Send no angry emails and make no admissions while you are sorting out your position; a measured, written notice that follows the contract is far more useful than a heated exchange.

Deadlines are real and they differ by claim. In Florida, an action on a written contract generally must be filed within five years, while a claim not founded on a written instrument, such as an oral or implied agreement, has four years. A fraud claim runs four years from discovery, subject to an outer limit of 12 years, an action to rescind a contract has four years, and an action for specific performance has one year. A claim against a professional for malpractice, even one framed as breach of contract, has two years from when it was or should have been discovered. Because a single dispute can contain several of these claims at once, the shortest clock should drive your timing, and you should not assume the longest one applies.

Where the case is filed depends largely on the amount at stake. Disputes above $50,000 are heard in circuit court, while smaller ones fall to county court, and small claims remain for the lowest-value cases. Hallandale Beach is in Broward County, which is served by the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit, and Broward’s civil cases are heard at the Central Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale and at regional courthouses in Deerfield Beach, Hollywood, and Plantation. The Seventeenth Circuit also maintains a complex business division that handles large business and construction litigation and certain entity dissolutions, and a qualifying case can be filed directly into it using the required form. Where the parties are from different states and the amount in controversy is large enough, the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida, which sits in Fort Lauderdale, Miami, and West Palm Beach among other locations, may also be an option, and that choice should be made deliberately and early.

If the other side is about to move assets, sell property, or take an action that cannot be reversed, speed matters more than anything else. That is the situation for emergency injunctive relief, and it should be raised with counsel immediately rather than after a demand letter goes unanswered for weeks.

Remedies Beyond Damages: Specific Performance, Rescission, and Injunctions

Many people assume a contract lawsuit is only about collecting a dollar amount. In practice, the remedy you need often drives the entire strategy. Damages work when money makes you whole. When the subject of the contract is unique, as real property is, money may not be enough, and a court sitting in equity can order the other party to perform. That remedy has its own short one-year filing period, so a buyer or seller on a failed closing cannot sit on the claim.

Rescission asks the court to unwind the agreement and return the parties to where they started, and it is typically pursued where there was fraud, mistake, or a failure so fundamental that enforcing the deal makes no sense. Injunctions fill the gaps: a temporary injunction preserves the status quo while the case proceeds, and a permanent injunction can bar conduct after trial. Which remedy fits depends on the contract’s language, the facts, and what the client actually needs when the dust settles, which is why we decide on the remedy before drafting the complaint rather than after.

Contract Disputes Between Business Owners and Co-Owners

A large share of contract litigation in South Florida is really a dispute between owners. When partners, LLC members, or shareholders fall out, the operating agreement or shareholder agreement becomes the central document, and the case may involve breach of that agreement, breach of fiduciary duty, claims over misused company funds, and requests for a buyout or dissolution. Florida’s LLC statute allows a court to dissolve a company on grounds that include deadlocked owners who cannot break the impasse while the company suffers irreparable injury, misappropriation or waste of assets, illegal or fraudulent conduct by those in control, and situations where it is no longer reasonably practicable to carry on the business under the operating agreement. In those proceedings a court may also appoint a receiver or custodian after a hearing, or order the purchase of the petitioning member’s interest.

For corporations, a shareholder petitioning for dissolution can trigger the right of the company or other shareholders to elect to buy the petitioner’s shares at fair value, and if the parties agree on value and terms within 60 days of the first election, the court enters an order on those terms. An agreement may also contain its own deadlock sale mechanism, which can take priority if it is properly initiated. Because the contract itself may decide which path applies, an early read of the governing agreement shapes the whole case.

Frequently Asked Questions About Contract Litigation in Hallandale Beach

What counts as a breach of contract in Florida?

A breach occurs when a party fails to do what the agreement requires without a valid excuse. It can be a failure to pay, a failure to deliver, late or defective performance, or a clear statement that the party will not perform at all. A material breach, one that goes to the heart of the bargain, generally gives the other side stronger remedies than a minor one.

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

For a contract founded on a written instrument, Florida allows five years. For oral or implied contracts the period is four years. These periods were not changed by the 2023 legislation that shortened the negligence deadline to two years, so the written-contract period remains five years. Related claims such as fraud, rescission, or specific performance carry different periods, so the claim with the shortest clock should set your timetable.

Does a contract have to be in writing to be enforceable?

Not always. Many oral agreements are enforceable, but they are harder to prove, and some categories, such as certain real estate transactions, generally must be in writing. Even where a writing is not strictly required, the lack of one usually turns the case into a contest over credibility and conduct, which is why emails and texts become so important.

Can a court force the other side to complete a deal instead of paying me damages?

Yes, in appropriate cases. Specific performance is an equitable remedy most often used for real estate, where each property is unique. The firm has obtained a final judgment granting specific performance of a commercial real estate contract after a bench trial in Broward County. Because the filing period for that claim is only one year, delay can forfeit it.

Should my case be in county court or circuit court?

It depends mainly on the amount in controversy and the type of relief sought. Disputes above the county court ceiling, which is adjusted periodically, belong in circuit court, and requests for equitable relief such as injunctions or specific performance are generally circuit court matters regardless of dollar value. We assess venue before filing so the case starts in the right place.

My contract says disputes must go to arbitration. Can I still sue?

Usually not at first. A valid arbitration clause generally sends the dispute to arbitration, and a court will often stay or dismiss a lawsuit filed in violation of it. Whether the clause is enforceable, and how broadly it reaches, depends on its exact wording, so it should be reviewed before any filing.

What if my business partner is taking money from the company?

You may have claims for an accounting, breach of fiduciary duty, conversion, and recovery of the funds. In urgent situations a court can issue injunctive relief to stop assets from being moved or spent while the case is pending, and misappropriation of assets is also one of the recognized grounds for judicial dissolution of an LLC.

How long does a contract case take in Broward County?

There is no honest single answer, because it depends on the complexity, the number of parties, how much discovery is needed, and whether the matter settles in mediation. Simple payment disputes can resolve quickly, while multi-party business cases and trials take longer. A 5-day bench trial like the one in our recent specific performance matter reflects the kind of record-heavy case that cannot be rushed.

I live in New York or New Jersey but my contract is tied to South Florida. Can you handle it?

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

Can I recover my attorney’s fees if I win?

Only if the contract provides for them or a statute allows them. Many commercial agreements contain fee-shifting clauses, and those clauses often cut both ways, so a client who loses may owe the other side’s fees. That is one reason to review the agreement before deciding whether to sue or defend.

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

It depends on what is at stake and what the contract says about fees. For modest amounts, an early demand letter or mediation can resolve things at a cost that makes sense, and we aim for a resolution that fits the client’s goals and budget rather than spending more than the dispute is worth.

Serving Contract Litigation Clients Across Hallandale Beach and South Florida

We represent clients in Hallandale Beach and throughout southern Broward County, including neighboring Hollywood, Aventura in Miami-Dade County just to the south, Dania Beach, Pembroke Park, and West Park. From there our reach continues north through Fort Lauderdale, Oakland Park, Pompano Beach, Deerfield Beach, Plantation, Davie, Sunrise, Coral Springs, and Weston, and into Palm Beach County communities such as Boca Raton, Delray Beach, Boynton Beach, and West Palm Beach. The same team also serves clients from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut whose contracts, business partners, or investment property are located in South Florida, handling local proceedings while keeping those clients informed from wherever they live.

Speak With a Hallandale Beach Contract Litigation Attorney

When a signed agreement is not being honored, the sooner it is reviewed, the more options you keep, from a negotiated resolution to emergency relief to a trial. If you are looking for a Hallandale Beach contract attorney who will read the agreement closely and tell you plainly where you stand, the Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team is ready to talk through your situation. Call to schedule a consultation and bring the contract, the correspondence, and any payment records you have.