Florida Business Litigation Lawyer Blog
If you are in a business dispute involving several persons acting in concert with one another, you could have a claim for civil conspiracy. The “gist of a civil conspiracy [claim] is not the conspiracy itself, but the underlying civil wrong” that is the focus or purpose of the conspiracy. Tejera v. Lincoln Lending Servs., LLC, 271 So. 3d 97 (Fla. 3d DCA). Therefore, civil conspiracy claim can be an effective tool to bring a civil action against every bad actor in a business dispute. Peter Mavrick is a Miami business litigation attorney, and represents clients in Fort Lauderdale, Boca Raton, and Palm Beach. The Mavrick Law Firm represents businesses and their owners in breach of contract litigation and related claims of fraud, non-compete agreement litigation, trade secret litigation, trademark infringement litigation, employment litigation, and other legal disputes in federal and state courts and in arbitration.
The elements for a civil conspiracy claim are (1) a conspiracy between two or more parties; (2) to do an unlawful act or a lawful act through unlawful means; (3) the doing of some overt act in furtherance of the conspiracy; and (4) damage to the plaintiff resulting from the conspiracy. Walters v. Blankenship, 931 So. 2d 137 (Fla. 5th DCA 2006). The wrongful act giving rise to a civil conspiracy claim usually must be a tort. Rushing v. Bosse, 652 So. 2d 869 (Fla. 4th DCA 1995).
There are various examples of business disputes which could give rise to civil conspiracy claims. One example could involve a breach of fiduciary duty claim against a former executive who was assisted by others in breaching his or her fiduciary duty. Accord Blatt v. Green, Rose, Kahn & Piotrkowski, 456 So. 2d 949 (Fla. 3d DCA 1984) (allowing a claim of civil conspiracy against a law firm and its lawyer based on breach of fiduciary duty imposed for Florida probate code). The co-conspirators do not need to owe fiduciary duties to the former employer because they only need to have assisted one person who did owe those fiduciary duties in breaching them. See Logan v. Morgan, Lewis, & Bockius LLP, 350 So. 3d 404 (Fla. 2d DCA 2022) (allowing a civil conspiracy claim against law firm for aiding law firm’s client, an accounting firm, to breach the client’s fiduciary duty). Another example of a claim for civil conspiracy in a business dispute could involve tortious interference with a contract or business relationship. See Am. Diversified Ins. Servs., Inc. v. Union Fidelity Life Ins. Co., 439 So. 2d 904 (Fla. 2d DCA 1983) (holding that complaint stated cause of action for civil conspiracy based on tortiously interfering with company’s business relationships). The conspirers do not need to have interfered with the contract or business relationship directly because they need only help the main tortfeasor interfere.
A claim for civil conspiracy can be made without an underlying tort in rare situations. This exception applies when the conspiracy creates a “peculiar power of coercion.” Lane v. Hemophilia of The Sunshine State, Inc., 793 So. 2d 992 (Fla. 2d DCA 2001). In Margolin v. Morton F. Plant Hospital Ass’n, Inc., 342 So. 2d 1090 (Fla. 2d DCA 1977), the court applied the peculiar power of coercion exception by finding that a group of doctors at a hospital conspired to prevent another doctor from performing surgeries at the hospital.
If you have a business dispute where multiple bad actors are conspiring against you, a claim of civil conspiracy might be an option to seek redress.
Peter Mavrick is a Miami business litigation lawyer, and represents clients in Fort Lauderdale, Boca Raton, and Palm Beach. This article does not serve as a substitute for legal advice tailored to a particular situation.