Oakland Park Business Litigation Attorney

The Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team represents business owners, investors, and families in Oakland Park and across Broward County when a company, a partnership, or a shared piece of property turns into a fight. The firm handles business divorces, partnership and LLC member disputes, complex contract litigation, missing-money cases, partition actions, title disputes, and emergency injunctions, and it also serves clients in Fort Lauderdale, Boca Raton, West Palm Beach, and throughout Palm Beach County.

If you are looking for an Oakland Park business litigation attorney, the first question is usually not “can I sue?” but “how fast do I have to move, and where does this case belong?” Oakland Park sits in Broward County, so a lawsuit over a business dispute here is generally filed in the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit, which sits in and for Broward County. That court has a complex business division that handles things like dissolution of certain business entities and large business litigation, and a case can be filed directly into it only by following the circuit’s administrative order and submitting the required form with the initial filing.

Oakland Park has a working commercial base: light industrial space, auto and marine-related shops, restaurants and retail along Dixie Highway and Commercial Boulevard, and a lot of small closely held companies owned by two, three, or four people. Those are exactly the businesses where one owner’s disagreement with another can stop everything, because there is no board, no outside investor, and often an operating agreement that was downloaded years ago and never read again.

Business Disputes That Come Out of Closely Held Companies

Most of the cases we see begin with a relationship, not a document. Two people started something together, and the trust that held it up is gone. What follows is usually a mix of claims, and a good Oakland Park business litigation attorney sorts them out early, because the order you raise them matters.

A deadlock is the classic example. If two members each hold half of an LLC and cannot agree on anything, the company can freeze: no one can sign a lease renewal, approve a payment, or hire. Florida’s LLC statute lets a member ask a circuit court to dissolve the company on several grounds, including that the members or managers are deadlocked and irreparable injury to the company is threatened or already happening. The same list covers situations where it is not reasonably practicable to run the business under the operating agreement, where those in control have acted or are expected to act illegally or fraudulently, and where company assets are being misappropriated or wasted. A deadlock-sale clause in the operating agreement can change the picture, because if one has been triggered before the court finds that deadlock grounds exist, that clause can take the place of a dissolution order or a court-ordered buyout. That is one reason we read the agreement before anything else.

Corporations work a little differently. A shareholder petitioning for judicial dissolution under the corporate statute can find the company or the other shareholders electing to buy the petitioner out at fair value. 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; if not, the court sets fair value. Once made, that election is irrevocable unless the court finds it equitable to undo it. The corporation also has 30 days after a petition is filed to notify the other shareholders that they can avoid dissolution by electing to buy. These deadlines come fast, and missing one can narrow your options.

Why Choose the Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team for Oakland Park Business Disputes

The Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team is a South Florida business and real estate litigation firm that represents owners, investors, and families in Broward County and Palm Beach County, along with clients from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut who hold business or real estate interests here. Andrew M. Schwartz, 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.

Senior Counsel Sundeep Nath, a Northwestern-trained litigator, handles business and real estate cases in state and federal courts and brings years of experience to the team’s work. The firm practices as a true legal team, so everyone working on a matter knows the file, and clients are not left waiting for the one person who happens to remember their case. There is a strict 24 hour return call policy when we are in court or otherwise unable to answer right away.

Results matter more than adjectives. In May 2024, after a five-day bench trial, a Broward County circuit judge issued a 32-page final judgment awarding our client specific performance of a commercial real estate contract. That outcome reflects the kind of work these cases demand: careful attention to contract wording, the history between the parties, and a trial record built to hold up. The firm is also experienced in mediation and arbitration, and we look for the resolution that fits the client’s goals and budget rather than stretching a case out for its own sake. A substantial part of our practice comes from referrals by other attorneys, including out of state lawyers whose clients have disputes in Florida.

Kinds of Business and Property Disputes We Handle for Oakland Park Clients

• Business Divorce and Member Disputes: Deadlocked management, buyouts, valuation fights, and breaches of operating or shareholder agreements among LLC members, partners, and shareholders, including minority owners who are being frozen out.
• Judicial Dissolution: Petitions under Florida’s LLC and corporate statutes when a company cannot function, assets are being wasted, or the controlling owners are acting improperly, with the court able to appoint a receiver or custodian after a hearing in appropriate cases.
• Complex Contract Litigation: Disputes over purchase agreements, operating agreements, commercial leases, loan documents, and construction contracts, where the outcome often turns on exact wording and course of dealing.
• Missing Funds and Accountings: Unpaid distributions, diverted company money, commingled accounts, and partners who cannot explain where funds went, with claims for an accounting, breach of fiduciary duty, and recovery.
• Partition Actions: Co-owners of real estate who cannot agree, including former business partners, siblings who inherited property, and investors who want out. Florida courts may divide the land or order it sold and the proceeds shared.
• Title and Quiet Title Disputes: Competing claims of ownership, clouds on title, and actions to cancel a conveyance or clear a record so the true owner can sell or finance.
• Injunctions and Emergency Relief: Temporary and permanent injunctions to stop assets from being moved, spent, or encumbered while the dispute is pending.
• Family Business Disputes: Siblings, parents and children, and in-laws sharing ownership, where control and compensation questions carry personal weight and require discretion.

What to Do Right Now If a Business Relationship Has Broken Down

Start by getting your documents in one place before the other side controls access to them. That means the operating agreement or shareholder agreement and all amendments, articles of organization or incorporation, tax returns, bank statements, ledgers, capital contribution records, loan documents, leases, and any emails or texts that show what each owner agreed to. If the company’s accounting lives on a system your partner controls, ask a lawyer how to request records properly rather than doing something that could be characterized as improper access.

Next, think about timing. Written-contract claims in Florida carry a five-year limitations period, while claims on oral or implied contracts get four years. A fraud claim runs four years from discovery, with an outer cap of twelve years, and an action to rescind a contract also has four years. A suit for specific performance carries a one-year period, which surprises many people and is the reason a failed commercial closing cannot be left to sit. Negligence claims were cut to two years for causes of action accruing after March 24, 2023, and professional malpractice claims, other than medical, also carry two years from discovery. Nothing about a contract deadline should be treated as flexible, and the clock can start earlier than you expect.

If money is moving or property is about to be sold, say so immediately, because that is when injunctive relief matters. A court can act on an emergency basis to freeze a transfer, but only if the request is supported by evidence and brought quickly. Do not confront the other owner, move funds yourself, or change locks without advice; those steps often become the other side’s best exhibit.

On venue, a business lawsuit arising in Oakland Park typically belongs in the Broward County circuit court if the amount in controversy is above the county court limit, which is adjusted from time to time. Smaller claims can land in county court, and claims at the small-claims level go through a simplified process. The Seventeenth Circuit’s civil divisions sit at the Central Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale and at regional courthouses in Deerfield Beach, Hollywood, and Plantation. Where federal jurisdiction exists, such as certain cases between parties from different states, the Southern District of Florida holds court in Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach. Our out of state clients usually do not need to travel for each hearing, since we handle the local appearances and keep them informed.

Finally, ask about resolution early. Many partnership fights end in a negotiated buyout, a structured wind-down, or a mediated settlement, and we pursue that path when it serves the client. When it does not, we are ready for a courtroom.

Partition, Title, and Real Estate Co-Ownership Fights

Real estate disputes in the Oakland Park area often start with shared ownership: a commercial building two partners bought through an entity, a duplex left to three siblings, or a rental property owned by a couple who are no longer together. Florida treats partition as a matter for the court’s equitable power, and the complaint must describe the land, name the owners and where they live, and state what share each holds. After a judgment of partition, the court appoints three commissioners to examine whether the land can be divided fairly. If division would prejudice the owners, the court can order a sale at public auction, with proceeds split in proportion to each owner’s interest, and a sale on credit requires at least one-third of the price paid down unless every party agrees otherwise.

Family-held property can fall under a separate set of rules. Florida’s Uniform Partition of Heirs Property Act, which applies to partition cases filed on or after July 1, 2020, covers tenancy-in-common property where title came from a relative and certain further conditions are met, such as relatives holding twenty percent or more of the interests. When it applies, the court generally must follow its special procedures, and a partition in kind is not entered unless the court is satisfied that the commissioners considered the statutory factors and found that dividing the property would prejudice the cotenants as a group. These protections are meant to keep inherited property from being forced into a quick sale.

Title cases are their own animal. A quiet title action lets a person claiming legal or equitable title ask the court to cancel a conveyance or other evidence of title that clouds ownership. The suit may be filed in any county where part of the land sits, and the plaintiff must trace title back at least seven years unless the court orders otherwise. Adverse possession claims, which require seven years of continuous possession and follow separate rules depending on whether color of title is involved, sometimes sit behind these disputes, and a claimant relying on them must meet specific filing and description requirements.

Common Questions About Business Litigation in Oakland Park

What does a business litigation attorney actually do?

We read the agreements, assemble the financial and communication record, advise on which claims are strongest, seek emergency relief when assets are at risk, negotiate or mediate when that serves you, and try the case when it does not settle. Much of the value is in early decisions: where to file, which claims to bring first, and what evidence to preserve.

Can I force a partner out of my LLC in Florida?

It depends on your operating agreement and the partner’s conduct. Many agreements contain buyout, expulsion, or dissociation terms. Florida law also provides remedies, including judicial dissolution and a court-ordered purchase of a petitioning member’s interest, when the statutory grounds are met.

What if my partner is taking money from the company?

You may have claims for breach of fiduciary duty, an accounting, conversion, and recovery of the funds. Where assets are being moved or spent, a court can issue injunctive relief and, after a hearing, may appoint a receiver or custodian in a dissolution proceeding.

How long do I have to sue over a broken contract?

Five years for a contract founded on a written instrument and four years for oral or implied contracts. Fraud has its own four-year-from-discovery rule with a twelve-year cap, and specific performance must be brought within one year.

Did the 2023 change to the negligence deadline affect contract cases?

No. The reduction from four years to two applied to negligence claims accruing after March 24, 2023, and it left the five-year written-contract period and the four-year intentional-tort period alone.

Will my case be heard in Broward County or federal court?

Most business disputes here are filed in the Broward County circuit court. Federal court in the Southern District of Florida is available only when federal jurisdiction exists, such as certain disputes between citizens of different states.

What is the Broward complex business division?

It is a specialized section of the Seventeenth Circuit that handles large business litigation, certain entity dissolutions, assignments for the benefit of creditors, and similar matters. A case can be filed directly into it only by following the circuit’s administrative order and submitting the required form at filing, after which the clerk assigns it at random among the divisions.

My partners are in Oakland Park but I live in New Jersey. Can you still handle my case?

Yes. We regularly represent clients from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut with interests in South Florida. We attend local hearings and keep you updated, and scheduled conference calls are set at times that work for everyone.

Do I have to keep the business running during a dispute?

Often yes, and it helps your position to do so. Abandoning operations can give the other side an argument and may harm the company’s value. We advise clients on how to keep things functioning while the dispute is resolved, and on when a court-supervised arrangement makes sense.

Can a quiet title action fix a cloud on my property?

It can. The court can determine ownership and cancel a conveyance or other record that clouds title, provided you can trace title for the required period. Whether it is the right tool depends on what is clouding the record and who claims an interest.

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

Often it is, if the agreement is clear and the stakes involve ownership or control rather than just a modest invoice. Disputes below the county court threshold are handled differently, and we will tell you plainly if the cost of a fight outweighs what is at stake.

Serving Business Litigation Clients Across Oakland Park and Broward County

We represent clients in Oakland Park and throughout Broward County, including Fort Lauderdale, Wilton Manors, Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, Pompano Beach, Lighthouse Point, Deerfield Beach, Coral Springs, Coconut Creek, Margate, Tamarac, Lauderhill, Plantation, Sunrise, Davie, Hollywood, Hallandale Beach, and Pembroke Pines. Business owners along the Dixie Highway and Commercial Boulevard corridors, in the industrial pockets near the airport, and in neighboring residential communities bring us the same kinds of disputes: partnership breakups, contract failures, and co-ownership fights over property.

Our reach extends north into Palm Beach County, where we serve Boca Raton, Delray Beach, Boynton Beach, Lake Worth, West Palm Beach, Palm Beach Gardens, Jupiter, and the surrounding communities. Clients from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut who share ownership with South Florida partners can work with us without relocating their lives to keep a case moving.

Talk With an Oakland Park Business Litigation Lawyer Today

When a partner, a co-owner, or a counterparty puts your company or your property at risk, the choices you make in the first few weeks shape everything that follows. Our team can review your agreements, tell you which deadlines apply, and lay out realistic options, whether that is a negotiated exit, mediation, an injunction, or a trial. Call the Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team to schedule a consultation with an Oakland Park business litigation lawyer who will read your documents and give you a straight assessment.