Parkland Business Litigation Attorney

The Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team represents business owners, investors, and families in Parkland and across Broward County and Palm Beach County who find themselves in a dispute with a partner, a co-owner, or a counterparty that cannot be resolved by conversation. A Parkland business litigation attorney is usually called when a company’s money, control, or real estate is in play, and the other side is either unwilling to talk or is already acting. Our work covers business divorce, partnership and LLC member disputes, complex contract litigation, missing funds, partition actions, quiet title, and emergency injunctions, for clients throughout South Florida and for clients in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut who hold business or real estate interests here.

Parkland’s business picture shapes the kinds of cases that come up. Many companies here are closely held: a professional practice with two or three owners, a development or investment entity formed with a friend or relative, a family company passed to siblings, or a holding LLC that owns a single property. These entities tend to run on handshake understandings and thin operating agreements, and the disputes that follow are rarely about a single bad email. They are about what the agreement actually says, how the owners behaved over the years, and whether one side is quietly moving money or property out of reach.

This is why the first question in a business dispute is usually not “who is right” but “what clock is running and what can be frozen.” Florida sets different limitations periods for different claims, a court can sometimes stop assets from moving while a case is pending, and the forum you file in affects how quickly a judge will look at your problem. The sections below walk through those points for owners in the Parkland area.

Business Disputes We Handle for Parkland Owners

• Business Divorce and Deadlocked Ownership: Co-owners who cannot agree on direction, compensation, or who controls day-to-day decisions can bring operations to a halt. Florida’s LLC statute lists grounds a member can raise for judicial dissolution, including deadlock that threatens irreparable injury, misappropriated or wasted assets, and the impracticability of running the company under its operating agreement. Corporations have a parallel statute for shareholders.
• Buyouts and Valuation Fights: In a corporate dissolution case, the company or the other shareholders can elect to purchase the petitioning shareholder’s shares at fair value, and the parties have a 60-day window after the first election to agree on price and terms before the court steps in. Many LLC operating agreements also contain their own buy-sell or deadlock sale mechanism, which can displace a court-ordered result.
• Breach of Operating and Shareholder Agreements: These cases turn on the exact wording of the agreement, amendments, and how the owners actually behaved. A claim founded on a written agreement carries a five-year limitations period in Florida, while oral or implied contracts carry four years.
• Missing Funds and Fiduciary Breaches: Unpaid distributions, commingled accounts, diverted company money, and managers who cannot explain where cash went support claims for an accounting, breach of fiduciary duty, and recovery of the funds. Misappropriation is also a recognized ground for dissolving an LLC.
• Family and Friend-Owned Businesses: Siblings who inherited a company, parents and children with different plans for it, and in-laws holding shares all face control and compensation questions that carry personal weight. These cases call for discretion alongside firm protection of the client’s financial position.
• Partition and Real Estate Co-Ownership: When co-owners of land cannot agree, Florida’s partition statute lets the court divide the property or order it sold and the proceeds shared. Former business partners, heirs, unmarried couples, and investors in shared property bring these cases.
• Quiet Title and Title Disputes: A court with jurisdiction over title can cancel a conveyance or remove a cloud on title, and a plaintiff generally must trace title back at least seven years unless the court orders otherwise. These suits can be filed in any county where part of the land sits.
• Injunctions and Emergency Relief: When assets or property are about to be moved, spent, or encumbered, temporary and permanent injunctions can hold the status quo while the dispute is decided.

Why Choose the Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team for Business Litigation in Parkland

The Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team is a business and real estate litigation firm serving Parkland, Boca Raton, West Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale, and the rest of Palm Beach County and Broward County. Andrew M. Schwartz, the firm’s founder, has spent 37 years in litigation, was admitted to The Florida Bar in 1989, and holds degrees from Emory University (1986) and the University of Miami School of Law (1989). His career has centered on complex contract disputes, business divorces, and conflicts among partners, LLC members, and shareholders. Sundeep Nath, Senior Counsel, is a Northwestern-trained litigator with years of experience handling business and real estate cases in both state and federal courts.

The firm practices as a true legal team, meaning everyone working on a matter knows the file and can speak to it when a client calls. A strict 24 hour return call policy applies when an attorney is in court, and scheduled conference calls are set at times that work for everyone involved. For a business owner whose dispute is moving week to week, that availability matters more than a polished brochure.

Results matter too. After a 5-day bench trial, a Broward County Circuit Court judge issued a 32-page final judgment on May 15, 2024, awarding our client specific performance of a commercial real estate contract. That outcome reflects the kind of work these disputes require: building a record, trying the case when settlement is not available, and securing an order that compels performance rather than just a damages figure. Our attorneys are also experienced in mediation and arbitration, and we look for the resolution that serves a client’s goals and budget rather than prolonging a case for its own sake. A substantial share of our work comes from referrals by other attorneys, including out-of-state lawyers whose clients have disputes in Florida.

What a Parkland Business Owner Should Do When a Dispute Hits

Start by securing the paper. Gather the operating agreement or shareholder agreement and every amendment, the articles of organization or incorporation, capital contribution records, bank statements, tax filings, loan documents, leases, and the key emails and texts among the owners. Whether a claim is built on a written instrument or on an oral understanding changes the limitations period, so how the deal was actually documented is the first thing a lawyer will look at. A claim on a written contract has five years, oral or implied contract claims have four, rescission has four, a specific performance action has one year, and fraud runs four years from discovery with an outer limit of 12 years. The one-year specific performance window in particular catches owners off guard, so do not wait to see whether a counterparty will come around.

Next, look at what the agreement says about leaving. Many operating agreements contain a deadlock or buy-sell provision, and under Florida’s LLC statute a deadlock sale mechanism that has been initiated before the court finds deadlock grounds can take the place of a judicial dissolution order. Triggering or ignoring such a clause at the wrong time can cost an owner leverage, so read it with counsel before sending any notice to the other side.

If money or property is moving, speak to a lawyer immediately about emergency relief rather than writing the other owner a heated letter. In a corporate dissolution proceeding, the court can issue injunctions, appoint a receiver or custodian, and take other steps to preserve company assets, and in an LLC proceeding the court can appoint a receiver or custodian after notice and a hearing. Freezing a bank account or blocking a closing is far easier before the funds or the deed have moved than after.

Know where your case will be heard. Parkland sits in Broward County, which is covered by the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit, and the circuit hears civil claims above the county court ceiling. County court handles smaller civil claims, and small claims handles the smallest, so a serious business dispute will almost always be a circuit court matter. The Seventeenth Circuit also maintains complex business divisions that handle dissolution of certain business entities and large business and construction litigation, and a case can be filed directly into those divisions through the procedure set out in the circuit’s administrative order. Where a property or another party sits in Palm Beach County, the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit may be the proper forum instead, and cases with federal jurisdiction can proceed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, which sits in Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach. Choosing the forum early, with the contract’s venue and jurisdiction clauses in view, is part of the strategy.

Finally, avoid the mistakes we see most often: continuing to run the company as if nothing happened while the other owner builds a record, signing something under pressure, deleting messages, or accepting a lowball buyout number without a valuation. Document what you contribute, keep personal and company money separate, and let counsel handle contact with the other side once the relationship has broken down.

Partition, Dissolution, and Court-Ordered Exits in Florida

When owners cannot separate on their own, Florida law supplies court-supervised exits, and the right one depends on what is jointly held. For real estate, a partition action is a chancery proceeding in which the complaint must describe the land, name the owners and where they live, and state each owner’s share. After judgment, the court appoints three commissioners, unless the parties agree otherwise, to determine whether the property can be divided fairly. If division would prejudice the owners, the court can order a public sale to the highest bidder and distribute the proceeds in proportion to each owner’s interest. A court-ordered sale on credit is possible for good cause, but at least one-third of the purchase money must be paid down unless everyone consents to different terms.

Co-owners who received property by inheritance should know that Florida has a separate framework for heirs property, which governs partition actions filed after its effective date. Property held as tenants in common, where one or more owners got title from a relative and the other statutory conditions are met (for example, 20 percent or more of the interests held by relatives), must be partitioned under that framework unless all cotenants agree otherwise, and the court cannot order partition in kind without commissioners first weighing the statutory factors. That changes the playbook for family-held land and is easy to overlook.

For entities, judicial dissolution is a remedy, not a first move. A circuit court can dissolve an LLC on a member’s or manager’s petition for grounds including unlawful operation, impracticability under the operating agreement, illegal or fraudulent conduct by those in control, waste or misappropriation of assets, or deadlock with threatened irreparable injury. In a corporate case, a shareholder who petitions can find the company or other shareholders electing to buy that shareholder out at fair value instead, and within 30 days of the proceeding’s start the corporation must notify the other shareholders that they can avoid dissolution by making that election. Once made, the election is irrevocable unless the court finds it equitable to set it aside or modify it. Because a dissolution petition can end up producing a buyout that was never the petitioner’s goal, deciding in advance whether you want out, want to buy, or want to leave the company intact is essential.

Parkland Business Litigation FAQs

What is the deadline to sue for breach of a written contract in Florida?

A legal or equitable action on a contract or obligation founded on a written instrument must be brought within five years. Contract claims not founded on a written instrument, meaning oral or implied agreements, have four years. These periods can be affected by when the claim accrued and by tolling doctrines, so confirm the specifics for your facts.

How long do I have to file a specific performance action?

One year. That is much shorter than the period for a damages claim on the same contract, so an owner who wants a court to compel a sale or other performance, rather than just award money, should not delay.

Can a court dissolve my LLC if my partner and I are deadlocked?

It can, but deadlock alone is not enough. A member or manager petitioning under Florida’s LLC statute must show the owners are deadlocked, cannot break the deadlock, and irreparable injury to the company is threatened or occurring. If your operating agreement has a deadlock sale provision that was initiated before the court makes that finding, the provision can apply in place of a dissolution order.

What happens to my shares if I ask a court to dissolve a corporation?

The corporation, or if it does not act, one or more other shareholders, can elect to buy all of your shares at fair value to avoid dissolution. If the parties agree on value and terms within 60 days of the first election being filed, the court enters an order directing the purchase on those terms. Otherwise the court sets fair value.

Can I get a receiver appointed over a company my partner is draining?

In an LLC dissolution case, a court can appoint a receiver or custodian once the petitioner shows sufficient merit, after a hearing with notice to the parties and an interested person the court designates. Corporate dissolution proceedings similarly allow a receiver or custodian and other asset-preservation steps. This is a serious remedy that usually requires concrete evidence of waste or diversion.

How is a quiet title action different from a partition action?

Quiet title resolves who owns the property or removes a competing claim or cloud on title. Partition assumes the owners are co-owners and asks the court to divide the property or sell it and split the proceeds. A property can need both: first sort out title, then partition among the confirmed owners.

Do I have to sue in Broward County if I live in Parkland?

Venue depends on the contract’s forum clause, where the defendant resides, where the cause of action arose, and where any property sits. Parkland is in Broward County, but a dispute over property in Palm Beach County or a defendant based there may belong in that county’s court. A quiet title complaint can be filed in any county where part of the land is located.

Is it worth hiring a business litigation lawyer for a dispute with a modest amount at stake?

It depends on what is at risk beyond the dollar figure. Smaller civil claims can be heard in county court rather than circuit court, which changes cost and pace, and many disputes resolve through negotiation or mediation before reaching trial. A short consultation to review the agreement and the deadline often shows whether the claim justifies full litigation.

I live in New Jersey and my co-owner is in Parkland. Do I have to come to Florida for every hearing?

Not typically. Our team handles local court appearances and proceedings in South Florida for clients from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut and keeps you informed at each stage, so you are not traveling for every hearing.

Can mediation or arbitration resolve a business divorce?

Often, yes. Many operating agreements require mediation or arbitration before suit, and even where they do not, mediation frequently produces a negotiated buyout or wind-down faster and more cheaply than a trial. Court remedies such as injunctions remain available when something cannot wait.

Does Florida’s change to the negligence deadline affect my business dispute?

Probably not. The legislature shortened the general negligence limitations period to two years for claims accruing after March 24, 2023, but the five-year written-contract period and the four-year intentional-tort period were not changed. Professional malpractice claims have their own two-year period running from when the claim is or should have been discovered.

Serving Business Litigation Clients Across Parkland and South Florida

From Parkland and neighboring Coral Springs, our team represents owners and investors throughout Broward County, including Coconut Creek, Margate, Tamarac, Sunrise, Plantation, Weston, Davie, Pompano Beach, Deerfield Beach, Fort Lauderdale, and Hollywood. We also handle disputes across Palm Beach County, including Boca Raton, Delray Beach, Boynton Beach, Wellington, Palm Beach Gardens, Jupiter, and West Palm Beach. Many of our clients live elsewhere, including in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut, but hold a business, an investment, or a share of real estate in South Florida, and we appear in the local courts on their behalf. Whether a case belongs in the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit in Broward, the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit in Palm Beach, or federal court, we match the forum to the dispute.

Speak With a Parkland Business Litigation Lawyer

If a partner, co-owner, or counterparty has put your company, your investment, or your property at risk, call the Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team to talk with a Parkland business litigation lawyer about the facts, the deadlines, and the options. We will review your agreement, tell you plainly what claims and remedies are available, and recommend the route most likely to reach your goals, whether that is a negotiated exit, mediation, or a courtroom. Call to schedule a consultation.