Doing Business in Florida Blog

Note, Although a Recent Decision of the Fourth District Court of Appeal Reconfirms the Existence of an Exception to the “Intra-Corporate Conspiracy Doctrine,” the Exception Is Quite Limited

April 13, 2017
P. Benjamin Zuckerman  |  Appellate Litigation, Litigation

In Mancinelli et. al. v. Davis et. al., 42 Fla. L. Weekly D7842 (April 5, 2017), the Fourth District Court of Appeal reconfirmed the existence of an exception to the “intra-corporate conspiracy doctrine,” a doctrine used to insulate company agents (officers, directors, partners, members or employees) from claims that they conspired with their company to

Careful: The Florida Supreme Court Clarified the Existence of Limits to the Litigation Privilege Doctrine and Provided a Clear Example of Why One Should Not Read Too Much into Court Decisions

March 15, 2017
P. Benjamin Zuckerman  |  Litigation

In Debrincat v. Fischer, 42 Fla. Weekly S141a (February 9, 2017), the Florida Supreme Court clarified limits to the litigation privilege doctrine, a doctrine often thought to provide absolute immunity for any actions taken in prior judicial proceedings by parties and other participants in those proceedings if related to those proceedings.  

One Party's Trash is Another Party's Evidence: A Lesson in Spoliation in the Digital Age

March 3, 2017
Jordan B. Isrow  |  E-Discovery, Litigation

As the use of computers, cell phones and other electronic devices continues to rise, litigants and their attorneys are faced with new and unique challenges regarding the preservation of evidence to avoid potential repercussions resulting from claims for spoliation. Spoliation is defined as the destruction of evidence or the significant and meaningful

Florida's Construction Defect Statute: Renovation Begins Again

February 28, 2017
Jeffrey S. Wertman  |  Condominiums, Construction Litigation, Litigation, Real Estate, Real Estate Litigation, Residential Real Estate

Renovation is underway again on Florida’s construction defect law, Chapter 558 of the Florida Statutes. Florida’s construction defect law requires the owner of real property in Florida to provide contractors, developers and other construction parties with a formal written notice of potential construction defects and the reasonable opportunity to fix the defects before a construction defect lawsuit is filed.

"Frustration" in the Florida Appellate Court: A Commercial Landlord's Battle to Defeat a Tenant's Excuse for Non-Performance

February 19, 2017
Jeffrey S. Wertman  |  Appellate Litigation, Commercial Real Estate, Condominiums, Construction & Design, Construction Litigation, Litigation, Real Estate, Real Estate Development

A recent Florida appellate opinion is likely to have a material impact on how future commercial real estate leases are drafted. Florida landlords wishing to avoid tenants’ defenses for nonperformance based on the doctrines of frustration of purposes, impracticality, or impossibility of performance should now more carefully assess how particular future events can affect a tenant’s performance and assign that risk to tenants in a lease.

A Non-Political, Unemotional Summary of the Ninth Circuit's Order in State of Washington v. Trump

February 10, 2017
Etan Mark  |  Appellate Litigation, Litigation, President Trump, U.S. Department of Homeland Security

Last night, in a unanimous opinion by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, the Court denied the United States government’s (President Trump, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the Secretary of State, and the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security) motion to stay the lower court’s temporary restraining order enjoining enforcement of