Someone misappropriated your trade secrets and you can prove it. But how were you damaged? This is an important question you must ask before commencing a lawsuit because the answer could influence a significant portion of your litigation strategy. Below we provide insights into some of the categories of damages…
Articles Posted in Business Litigation
FORT LAUDERDALE BUSINESS LITIGATION: NON-COMPETE AGREEMENTS AND CHOICE OF LAW PROVISIONS
Corporations routinely require their employees to enter restrictive covenants (including non-solicition and non-compete agreements) protecting the business from unfair competition. However, employees often live and reside in states that are different from the company’s place of incorporation and principal place of business. This trend has grown in recent years as…
MIAMI BUSINESS LITIGATION: STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS OF NON-COMPETE CLAIMS IN ARBITRATION
Florida Statutes Section 95.11(2)(b) states in pertinent part that, “[a] legal action on an action on a contract, obligation, or liability founded on a written instrument” is five years. This statute of limitations governs breach of written contracts in business litigation. Florida law imposes a type of “statute of frauds”…
FORT LAUDERDALE BUSINESS LITIGATION: STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS AND EQUITABLE TOLLING
Time is not always on your side because the law imposes many deadlines. Some can be moved or extended. Others cannot. The statute of limitations is one deadline that cannot be moved or extended as a general matter because it is fixed by the state legislature. Most, if not all,…
MIAMI BUSINESS LITIGATION: PREVAILING PARTY RECOVERY OF LEGAL FEES IN BREACH OF CONTRACT CLAIMS
Courts in Florida and most other jurisdictions award attorney’s fees to prevailing parties based on the American Rule. MV Senior Mgmt., LLC v. Redus Florida Hous., LLC, 319 So. 3d 66, 67 (Fla. 1st DCA 2020) (“Florida courts follow the ‘American rule.’”). This rule limits fee awards to instances where…
FORT LAUDERDALE BUSINESS LITIGATION: CONTRACTS AND TRIGGERING ARBITRATION
“Arbitration is a preferred method of dispute resolution.” Obolensky v. Chatsworth as Wellington Green, 240 So. 3d 6 (quoting BallenIsles Country Club, Inc. v. Dexter Realty, 24 So. 3d 649, 652 (Fla. 4th DCA 2009)). Therefore, “[c]ourts generally favor [arbitration] provisions, and [ ] try to resolve ambiguity… in favor…
MIAMI BUSINESS LITIGATION: PROTECTION OF TRADE SECRETS AND NONDISCLOSURE AGREEMENTS
For certain business, their trade secrets and are their most valuable assets. Accordingly, businesses will often seek to protect their trade secrets in various ways, including the use of a non-disclosure agreement (commonly referred to as an “NDA”). An NDA is a contract that typically binds current and former employees…
FORT LAUDERDALE BUSINESS LITIGATION: CUSTOMER LISTS AND TRADE SECRETS
Some businesses have experienced loss of customer relationships due to former employees taking customer relationships to competitors. The most obvious way to protect against such a situation is to ensure employees sign a restrictive covenant under Florida Statutes Section 542.335, commonly referred to as a non-compete agreement, prohibiting solicitation of…
MIAMI BUSINESS LITIGATION: OFFERS OF JUDGMENT AND SHAREHOLDER DERIVATIVE CASES
Under Florida’s offer of judgment statute, Section 768.79, Florida Statutes, “if a defendant serves an offer which is not accepted by a plaintiff, and if the judgment obtained by the plaintiff is at least 25 percent less than the amount of the offer, the defendant shall be awarded reasonable costs,…
FORT LAUDERDALE BUSINESS LITIGATION: CLAIMS FOR CONVERSION AND CIVIL THEFT
Many business litigation cases assert claims for conversion and civil theft. Under Florida law, and as explained by Florida’s Third District Court of Appeal in Ice v. Cosmopolitan Residences on South Beach, a Condominium Association, Inc., 237 So.3d 408 (Fla. 3d DCA 2017), conversion “is the exercise of wrongful dominion and…