Category Archives: Business Litigation
RICO: Not Just a Criminal Wrong, But a Civil Violation Also
In the movies, especially movies about crimes, there is often talk about racketeering. But racketeering isn’t just a crime—in Florida, it’s also a civil matter. Florida’s Racketeering law—often called RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization)—can provide damages for people who are injured by a pattern of what would be criminal racketeering activity. Why RICO… Read More »
Jurisdiction: Where Can Your Business be Sued?
If you have a business, especially a large one that does business nationally (or globally), you probably anticipate that you will be sued. What you may not have given a lot of thought to is where you can be sued. Why Jurisdiction is Important The question matters for a number of reasons. Being sued… Read More »
Lending Money? Watch Out for Usury Laws
If you are thinking of making money on the interest of money you loan out to others, you may be very profitable. However, when it comes to loaning money, the amount of interest you can charge—that is, the legal usury rate—is something you need to keep in mind, as the penalties for violating Florida’s… Read More »
What are a Seller’s Disclosure Obligations When Selling Property?
When you purchase property, there is a seemingly unending list of disclosures that are made to you, and documents that you have to sign. You may think that when purchasing property that anything that would alter the value of your property in a negative way would have to be disclosed to you (or that… Read More »
Business Gets Fined for Violating Florida’s Do Not Call List
Usually businesses try to avoid being sued by customers or consumers. But don’t forget the government. Many laws give the government the ability to fine you serious dollars—even if private consumers wouldn’t have a right to sue you. Business gets Fined by the State The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Service recently fined… Read More »
Getting Expert Scientific Evidence Admitted
Most people know about the value of expert witnesses. What they may not know is that even if your expert is qualified with the highest credentials, and is the most accomplished person in his or her field, the expert’s opinion still may not be admitted into court. Certification as an Expert A highly qualified… Read More »
Avoiding Allegations of Price Gouging
Because we live in hurricane prone Florida, you may already be familiar with the concept of price gouging. Price gouging investigations conducted by the attorney general’s office often occur after hurricanes, when businesses artificially inflate the price of goods that are necessary, life saving, and in demand, after a storm. But COVID has also… Read More »
Is Your Business Strictly Liable for Injuries to Customers?
If you sell products in person or online, you should know about strict liability. Strict liability, in the context of products liability injury law, makes those who distribute, manufacture, or sell a product liable for injuries caused when and if that product malfunctions and hurts someone. Your business may not know anything about the… Read More »
Do You Own Videos That You Purchase? Maybe Not
Here’s a riddle: When do you buy something, but you don’t actually own it? There are probably a lot of answers, but one such response that is currently being litigated in courts is whether or not you own videos that you purchase on Amazon Video’s streaming video platform. How the Service Works Like many… Read More »
Florida’s Business Judgment Rule May Protect You
As the owner, manager, majority shareholder, or head level employee of a company, you are expected to act in the company’s best interest. You are expected to, among many other things, manage the company’s affairs properly, protect its interests, guard it against competitors and generally do anything else possible to ensure the health and… Read More »
Employees Must be Aware of the Equal Pay Act
With the death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, came a lot of media coverage about the Equal Pay Act (EPA). You should be aware of the EPA, as it can be easy to violate its provisions, and an aggrieved employee does not have a difficult case if there is a pay violation… Read More »
The Penalties for Unlicensed Contracting Can be Severe
There are a lot of great things about living in South Florida. However, one not so great thing is the number of people who say that they are licensed to do projects, improvements, or construction on your home, but who are not. Anybody who hires a contractor to do significant work, whether on business… Read More »
Using the Fifth Amendment in Civil Cases
Most people, at least most people in the law, know what the Fifth Amendment says. It is the amendment to the constitution, included in the original Bill of Rights, which protects us against testifying against ourselves, otherwise known as the prohibition against self-incrimination. Criminal vs. Civil Case Use of the Fifth Amendment But there… Read More »
Can Experts Help Interpret Technical Laws?
Experts testify about areas that are highly complex, scientific, or technical in nature. The correct assumption made in the law is that neither normal people on the street (law witnesses) nor attorneys have the required background expertise to provide testimony in medical, technical, or scientific fields. That’s why we use experts. Experts are not… Read More »
How Juries are Picked in Civil and Commercial Litigation Cases
Picking a jury is one of the most important parts of any kind of business case. In cases where your business may be opposing an individual who feels that he or she was wronged, having a fair and impartial jury can be the difference between winning and losing. Jury Selection There are two parts… Read More »
Remittitur and Additur
In a lawsuit that has a jury, the jury’s word is generally final. After all, if parties could ask courts to overturn, or second guess juries, there would be no point in having a jury system, and there would be no finality in court decisions. However, the legal system also recognizes that jurors are… Read More »
LGBTQ Employees Are Protected in the Workplace
As an employer or an employee, you may be aware of the federal laws that protect workers from different kinds of discrimination or different treatment on the basis of race, nationality and sex. We interpret “sex” as meaning gender—that is, that women cannot be treated differently at work than men, and that is true…. Read More »
Investors Should Know About Lien Priority
When the economy starts to go sour, it often does not go sour for everyone. There is opportunity even in a bad economy, and as we learned during the downturn of the late 2000s, often, that opportunity comes in real estate. If you are a real estate investor, you may be considering buying foreclosed… Read More »
What is a Trade Secret and How Do You Protect It?
We hear a lot about trade secrets, and about the need to protect them. Many people who draft, review, sign or give out employment agreements or employee manuals, often know to include some kind of language protecting their business’ trade secrets. But what exactly is a trade secret? What Are Trade Secrets? Trade secrets… Read More »
What Your Business Should Know About Electronically Stored Information
Whether you are a business trying to protect yourself from a lawsuit, or you are an individual or business trying to sue another business for damages, electronically stored information (ESI) is vital. Whichever side of the lawsuit you or your business is on, a failure to understand Florida’s ESI rules and laws can lead… Read More »
