Plantation Contract Litigation Attorney

A contract has been broken, a deal has soured, or a former partner is pointing to a clause that says something you never agreed to, and now you have to decide whether to negotiate, send a demand, or file suit. For businesses and business owners in Plantation, that decision comes with a clock attached, and some of the deadlines are shorter than people expect. The Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team handles business and real estate litigation for clients in Plantation, Broward County, and across South Florida, and a Plantation contract litigation attorney at the firm can tell you early whether you have a claim worth pursuing and what it will cost to pursue it.

Contract cases rarely turn on drama. They turn on wording, on what the parties did after signing, and on whether the paperwork and the conduct tell the same story. A purchase agreement with a vague closing condition, an operating agreement that says nothing about a member who stops contributing, a commercial lease with a notice provision nobody followed: these are the documents that decide outcomes. The leverage in a contract dispute usually belongs to the side that read the agreement carefully before the dispute began, or at least before the first demand letter went out.

Why Plantation Clients 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, serving Plantation, Fort Lauderdale, Boca Raton, West Palm Beach, and the rest of Broward and Palm Beach Counties. Contract enforcement and interpretation have been at the center of Andrew M. Schwartz’s practice for his entire career. He was admitted to The Florida Bar in 1989, earned his law degree from the University of Miami and his undergraduate degree from Emory University, and has spent 37 years in litigation.

Andrew is joined by Senior Counsel Sundeep Nath, a Northwestern-trained litigator with years of experience in business and real estate cases in state and federal courts. That matters in contract work, because a dispute that starts in Broward Circuit Court can end up in federal court depending on who the parties are, and the firm is comfortable in both.

The firm practices as a true legal team, meaning everyone working on a matter knows the file and can answer when a client calls. There is a strict 24 hour return call policy when the attorneys are in court. The firm is also experienced in mediation and arbitration, and it looks for the resolution that fits the client’s goals and budget rather than stretching a case out for its own sake.

The firm’s recent record includes a commercial real estate contract case in Broward County. After a five-day bench trial, the Broward County Circuit Court issued a 32-page final judgment awarding the firm’s client specific performance of the contract, meaning the court ordered the deal completed rather than leaving the client with a damages check. No attorney can promise a result, but that outcome reflects the kind of detail-driven contract work the firm does.

Contract Disputes We Litigate for Plantation Businesses and Owners

• Purchase and Sale Agreements: Failed closings, disputed contingencies, and sellers who walk away from a signed deal. For real estate contracts, the remedy may be damages or an order forcing the sale to close.
• Operating Agreements and Shareholder Agreements: Disputes over buyout formulas, capital calls, management authority, transfer restrictions, and what happens when co-owners deadlock.
• Commercial Leases: Rent and common-area charge disputes, default and termination notices, personal guaranty exposure, and disagreements over build-out or use clauses in Plantation’s office and retail space.
• Loan and Financing Documents: Defaults, guaranty enforcement, and disagreements over what a promissory note or loan modification actually requires.
• Construction Contracts: Payment disputes between owners, general contractors, and subcontractors, change-order fights, and claims of defective or incomplete work.
• Partner and Member Money Disputes: Unpaid distributions, diverted company funds, disputed capital contributions, and managers who cannot account for company money.
• Family Business Agreements: Contracts among siblings, parents, children, or in-laws who share ownership, where the relationship complicates an otherwise ordinary breach claim.
• Injunction-Driven Disputes: Situations where waiting for a final judgment would let assets be moved or property disposed of, calling for temporary or permanent injunctive relief.

What to Do Now If a Contract Has Been Breached

Start by gathering the signed agreement and everything that modifies or explains it: amendments, side letters, emails, text messages, invoices, payment records, and notices sent by either side. Florida courts look at the written terms first, but the history of how the parties actually dealt with each other often decides ambiguous language. Do not delete anything, and avoid creating new written statements about the dispute until you know how they could be used.

Then check the clock. A claim founded on a written contract generally must be filed within five years. A claim on an oral or implied contract has four years, and a suit to rescind a contract also has four. A fraud claim runs four years from discovery, capped at twelve years. A suit for specific performance has only one year, which catches people off guard when they are still trying to work things out with the other side. Negligence and professional malpractice claims have two years, and the negligence period was shortened from four years for claims that accrued after March 24, 2023. If your contract problem overlaps with one of these theories, the shorter deadline may control.

Read the contract for dispute-resolution terms before doing anything else. Many agreements require mediation or arbitration first, set a venue, or shift attorney’s fees to the losing side. A notice-and-cure clause may require you to send a formal default notice before you can sue, and skipping that step can hand the other side an early win on a technicality.

Where you file depends on the amount at stake. Disputes above the county court ceiling belong in circuit court, which for Plantation means the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit in and for Broward County. Smaller claims go to county court, and the smallest to small claims. Broward Civil matters are heard at the Central Judicial Complex in Fort Lauderdale and at regional courthouses, including the West Regional Courthouse in Plantation. Large business disputes may qualify for the Seventeenth Circuit’s complex business division, which handles matters such as dissolution of certain business entities and large business and construction litigation; a case can be filed directly into that division using the required form. Federal court becomes an option when the parties are from different states and the amount in controversy is large enough, and the Southern District of Florida sits in Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach.

The most common mistakes are waiting too long, sending an angry email that concedes a point, accepting partial performance without reserving rights, and continuing to perform in a way that suggests the contract was modified. A short call before you respond to the other side often prevents all four.

Breach Remedies: Damages, Specific Performance, and Emergency Relief

The standard remedy for breach is money damages: the amount needed to put the injured party where it would have been had the contract been performed. Recoverable losses must be tied to the breach and proven with documents and, often, expert testimony. Whether attorney’s fees can be recovered depends on the agreement itself, so a fee-shifting clause deserves a close read before anyone decides to sue.

Specific performance is the alternative when money will not make you whole, most often in real estate, where every parcel is unique. Courts treat it as an equitable remedy, the one-year filing window is unforgiving, and the plaintiff generally must show it was ready, willing, and able to perform its own side of the deal. That is exactly why the document trail matters.

When the dispute involves money that may disappear, a final judgment can arrive too late to matter. Courts can issue temporary or permanent injunctions to stop assets from being moved or spent while a case is pending, and in disputes among owners a court may appoint a receiver or custodian after notice and a hearing. For limited liability companies, deadlock, misappropriation or waste of assets, and conduct that makes it not reasonably practicable to run the business under the operating agreement are recognized grounds for judicial dissolution. The firm’s work in partnership disputes and contract litigation overlaps heavily for this reason: a breach of an operating agreement is often both a contract claim and a dissolution or fiduciary duty claim.

Plantation Contract Litigation Questions

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

Five years for an action founded on a written instrument. An oral or implied contract claim has four years. Other theories attached to the same facts, such as fraud, rescission, or negligence, carry their own periods, so the right deadline depends on how the claim is pleaded.

What is the deadline for asking a court to force a deal to close?

A specific performance action has a one-year limitations period. That is much shorter than the period for a damages claim, so anyone who wants the court to compel performance should not wait.

Which court would hear my contract case if I am in Plantation?

Plantation is in Broward County, so state court cases are filed in the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit, in county court for mid-sized claims and circuit court for larger ones. Small claims cover the lowest amounts. A federal case would go to the Southern District of Florida.

Is a verbal agreement enforceable?

Often yes, but it is harder to prove, and certain contracts, such as most real estate sales, must be in writing to be enforced. Emails, texts, partial performance, and payment history frequently supply the proof that a handshake deal lacks.

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

Only if the contract or a statute provides for it. Many commercial agreements include a prevailing-party fee clause, and that provision can change the settlement dynamics significantly, because the losing side may owe both damages and the other side’s legal costs.

My business partner is taking company money. Is that a contract case?

It can be several things at once: breach of the operating or shareholder agreement, breach of fiduciary duty, conversion, and a claim for an accounting. In urgent situations a court can order injunctive relief to freeze assets while the case proceeds.

What if my contract requires arbitration?

Courts generally enforce arbitration clauses, so filing a lawsuit may only trigger a motion to send the case to arbitration. The clause also controls things like the forum, the rules, and sometimes who bears the costs, so it should be reviewed before any filing.

Does a contract dispute always end up in a courtroom?

No. Many are resolved through negotiation, mediation, or arbitration. The firm is experienced in all three and in trial work, and it matches the path to the client’s goals and budget.

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

Yes. The firm regularly represents out-of-state clients with business or real estate interests here, handles the local court appearances, and keeps clients informed so they do not have to travel for every hearing.

What if the other side is claiming I breached first?

That is common, and it is why early document review matters. A first-breach defense can excuse the other party’s performance, so the order of events, notice provisions, and any cure periods in the agreement need to be examined before you take a position in writing.

Will you work with my current lawyer or my company’s general counsel?

Yes. A significant part of the firm’s practice comes from referrals by other attorneys, including lawyers who do not handle business litigation, and the firm keeps referring counsel informed throughout the matter.

Serving Contract Litigation Clients Across Plantation and South Florida

The firm represents clients in Plantation and the surrounding Broward County communities, including Sunrise, Davie, Lauderhill, Lauderdale Lakes, Tamarac, Fort Lauderdale, Coral Springs, Pembroke Pines, Weston, Hollywood, Deerfield Beach, Margate, Coconut Creek, Cooper City, and Parkland. From the business corridors along University Drive and Broward Boulevard to commercial centers across the county, the firm handles agreements that go wrong for owners, landlords, tenants, contractors, lenders, and investors.

The firm also serves clients in Boca Raton, West Palm Beach, and throughout Palm Beach County, along with business and property owners from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut whose contracts and co-owners are in South Florida.

Talk With a Plantation Contract Litigation Attorney Before the Deadline Decides for You

If you need a Plantation contract litigation attorney, the Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team can review your agreement, tell you where you stand, and lay out realistic options, from negotiation to emergency injunctive relief to trial. Call the firm to schedule a consultation and bring the contract, the correspondence, and any notices you have sent or received.