North Palm Beach Breach of Contract Attorney

Most contract fights are decided long before anyone files a lawsuit: by the exact words in the agreement, by the emails and invoices that show how the parties actually behaved, and by which deadline the claim falls under. The Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team represents business owners, investors, and families in contract disputes across North Palm Beach and the rest of Palm Beach County and Broward County, and a North Palm Beach breach of contract attorney from our firm will start by reading the paper trail before anything else.

North Palm Beach is a village of marinas, small professional offices, waterfront real estate, and owner-operated businesses, with a lot of residents who also hold property or companies elsewhere. That mix produces a particular kind of dispute: a purchase and sale contract that fell apart at closing, a commercial lease where the landlord and tenant read the same clause differently, a loan document with a default nobody saw coming, or an operating agreement one member stopped honoring. The right response to each depends on what the contract says, what it was worth, and how quickly you need a court or the other side to act.

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

The Andrew M. Andrew M. Schwartz, the firm’s founder, was admitted to The Florida Bar in 1989 and has spent 37 years in litigation. He holds an undergraduate degree from Emory University (1986) and a law degree from the University of Miami (1989). Complex contract disputes, including purchase agreements, operating agreements, shareholder agreements, commercial leases, loan documents, and construction contracts, have been at the center of his practice throughout.

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 when a contract dispute may end up in either system. The firm works as a true legal team, so everyone handling your file knows it, and we keep a strict 24 hour return call policy when we are in court and cannot answer right away.

On the proof side, the firm recently obtained a 32-page final judgment from the Broward County Circuit Court after a 5-day bench trial, awarding our client specific performance of a commercial real estate contract. That result reflects the kind of work we do: disputes that turn on precise contract language and the history between the parties. We are also experienced in mediation and arbitration, and we look for the resolution that fits your goals and budget rather than stretching a case out for its own sake.

Contract Disputes We Handle for North Palm Beach Clients

• Real Estate Purchase and Sale Contracts: Failed closings, seller or buyer refusals to perform, deposit disputes, and financing or inspection contingencies that each side interprets differently. When a buyer or seller will not close, the remedy may be damages or an order forcing performance, and the choice drives the timeline.
• Commercial and Residential Leases: Landlord and tenant disagreements over rent, repairs, default notices, early termination, and what a lease actually permits. Florida’s residential notice rules are strict, so the form and timing of a notice can decide the outcome.
• Operating and Shareholder Agreements: A partner or member who ignores buyout terms, distribution provisions, or management restrictions. These claims often overlap with breach of fiduciary duty and, in the worst cases, a request for judicial dissolution.
• Loan and Financing Documents: Defaults, guaranty disputes, and disagreements over what a promissory note or loan agreement requires, including claims between private lenders and borrowers.
• Construction and Contractor Agreements: Unfinished work, defective work, payment disputes, and scope changes that were discussed but never put in writing.
• Business Purchase and Sale Agreements: Disputes over representations, earn-outs, holdbacks, and what the seller promised about the company’s finances.
• Missing or Withheld Money: Unpaid distributions, diverted company funds, disputed capital contributions, and partners who cannot account for what happened to company money, often paired with a claim for an accounting.
• Oral and Implied Agreements: Handshake deals and course-of-dealing arrangements. These can be enforceable, but they are harder to prove and carry a shorter filing period than written contracts.

What to Do If the Other Side Has Broken the Agreement

Start by gathering the documents before you start arguing. Pull the signed contract and every amendment, then the emails, texts, invoices, bank records, and notices that show what each side did and when. If the contract has a notice-and-cure clause, a dispute resolution clause, or a requirement to mediate or arbitrate first, those provisions decide your first move, and skipping them can cost you leverage later. Do not send an angry message that admits things or rewrites the story; whatever you write will likely end up as an exhibit.

Next, watch the clock. In Florida, a lawsuit on a written contract must be filed within five years. A claim based on an oral or implied agreement has four years. A fraud claim has four years from discovery, with an outer limit of 12 years, and a request to rescind a contract has four years. Specific performance, the remedy that forces someone to complete a deal like a real estate sale, carries a one-year period, which surprises people. Claims against professionals can run on a two-year clock from when the problem was or should have been discovered. If you are near any of these dates, the time to talk to a lawyer is now, not after another round of negotiating.

Where the case is filed depends mostly on the amount. Disputes up to the county court ceiling go to the county civil court, and larger ones go to the Circuit Court of the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit, which sits in and for Palm Beach County. Palm Beach County’s main courthouse is in West Palm Beach, and there is a north county courthouse in Palm Beach Gardens, a short drive from North Palm Beach. If the defendant or the property is in Broward County, the case may belong in the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit, which has a complex business division for larger commercial disputes. Cases with parties from different states may also reach the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, which holds court in West Palm Beach and Fort Lauderdale.

Before filing, we typically send a demand letter, evaluate whether mediation makes sense, and decide whether anything cannot wait. If someone is moving assets, locking you out of property, or about to do something that cannot be undone, we can ask the court for emergency injunctive relief while the dispute is pending. If the problem is money disappearing from a company, that request can come early in the case rather than at the end.

How a Contract Case Typically Unfolds

Once a complaint is filed and served, the other side answers, often with defenses and sometimes with a counterclaim, so expect your own performance to be examined. Discovery follows: document requests, written questions, and depositions. Most of the real work happens here, because contract cases are won on the documents and on testimony about what the parties intended and how they behaved. Judges handling civil cases in Palm Beach County are assigned through the court’s case management system, which sorts cases onto tracks based on complexity, so the schedule depends on how the case is classified.

Many cases settle after discovery or at mediation, once both sides can see what the evidence shows. If the case does not settle, it goes to trial, either before a jury or, in cases seeking equitable relief like specific performance, often before a judge alone. Contract cases are also shaped by a few practical questions: Does the contract have an attorney’s fee provision? Is there a damages cap or a waiver of certain claims? Can the other side actually pay a judgment? We raise these early, because the answer changes how much a case is worth pursuing.

Remedies depend on the facts. Damages put you in the position you would have been in if the contract had been performed. Specific performance orders the other party to do what they promised, which matters most in real estate and unique-asset deals. Rescission unwinds the deal. An accounting forces a partner or manager to show where company money went. Part of our job is picking the remedy that actually solves your problem, not just the one that sounds largest.

Questions About Breach of Contract Claims in North Palm Beach

What counts as a breach of contract in Florida?

A breach happens when one party fails to do something the agreement required, does something it prohibited, or performs so poorly that the other side does not get what it bargained for. The failure generally has to be material, and you generally have to show you held up your end or were excused from doing so.

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

Five years for a claim founded on a written contract, and four years for an oral or implied one. Fraud, rescission, specific performance, and professional malpractice claims have their own periods, and some are much shorter. The clock typically runs from the breach, not from the date you signed.

Is a verbal agreement enforceable?

Often, yes, but proving the terms is harder, and certain agreements, including many real estate deals, must be in writing to be enforced at all. Texts, emails, payment history, and witnesses can substitute for a signed document in some cases.

Can I make the other party actually complete the deal instead of just paying damages?

Sometimes. Specific performance is an equitable remedy a court can order when money would not make you whole, most commonly in real estate. It has a one-year filing period, so waiting to see whether the other side comes around can cost you the claim.

What if my contract says disputes must go to arbitration or mediation?

Those clauses are generally enforceable, and filing in court first can lead to a motion to compel arbitration. We read the dispute resolution language at the outset so you know which forum you are in before anyone spends money.

Do I need a lawyer for a smaller contract dispute?

It depends on the size of the claim and the cost of pursuing it. Small claims court handles disputes up to a modest ceiling, and many people represent themselves there. For larger amounts, anything involving real estate or a business ownership stake, or a contract with a fee clause, early legal advice is usually worth it.

What if I also broke part of the contract?

Your own breach may reduce or defeat your claim, and it often becomes the other side’s counterclaim. It does not automatically end your case, but it makes an honest early review of the documents more important.

Can I recover my attorney’s fees?

Only if the contract or a statute provides for them. Many commercial contracts, leases, and loan documents include fee provisions, which can be mutual, meaning you could owe the other side’s fees if you lose. Check this before deciding to sue.

My business partner is the one who breached. Is that different?

It can be. Partner and member disputes often involve fiduciary duties on top of the contract, and the remedies can include an accounting, a buyout, or judicial dissolution of the company when the business cannot function. Those options come from the operating agreement and Florida’s LLC and corporation statutes.

I live out of state. Do I have to come to Florida for the case?

Not for every step. We regularly represent clients from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut with interests in South Florida, handle the local court appearances, and schedule conference calls at times that work for you.

How long will a contract case take?

It varies with the complexity, the amount at stake, and whether the other side wants to settle. Cases that resolve at mediation can finish in months, while cases that go to trial take considerably longer. We discuss a realistic timeline once we have seen the documents.

Serving Contract Dispute Clients Across North Palm Beach and Beyond

From North Palm Beach, we represent clients in Palm Beach County communities including Juno Beach, Lake Park, Riviera Beach, Palm Beach Gardens, Jupiter, Tequesta, Singer Island, West Palm Beach, Palm Beach, Lake Worth Beach, Wellington, Royal Palm Beach, Boynton Beach, Delray Beach, and Boca Raton. We also serve clients across Broward County, including Fort Lauderdale, Deerfield Beach, Pompano Beach, Coral Springs, Hollywood, Plantation, and Sunrise.

Many of our clients live outside Florida but hold businesses, investment property, or a share of real estate in this part of the state, and we regularly work with clients from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. We also take referrals from other attorneys, including out of state counsel whose clients have a Florida contract dispute.

Talk to a North Palm Beach Breach of Contract Lawyer

If someone has broken an agreement that matters to your business, your investment, or your property, the sooner a North Palm Beach breach of contract lawyer reads the contract, the more options you have. Call the Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team to talk through what happened, what the deadlines are, and whether the right path is negotiation, mediation, or a lawsuit.