Miami Business Litigation Law Blog | Payton & Associates, LLC

Officer and director duties of care and of loyalty

On behalf of Payton & Associates, LLC posted in Business Litigation on Thursday, April 18, 2019.

Companies in Florida vary greatly in size and therefore they vary greatly in the number of employees working for them. These companies need people to manage the employees and to do this they hire managers and other officers of the company to ensure everything runs smoothly. These officers can include chief executive officers, chief financial officers, chief operating officers and many others who may be underneath the top levels of management of the company.

These officers have a duty of loyalty and a duty of care to the company. These duties may be breached when the officers stop acting in the best interests of the company and instead starts acting in their own best interests. Directors must act in good faith in the best interests of the company as a normally prudent individual would act in the same capacity. Officers have a duty to perform their duties as stated in the bylaws of the company or in a manner consistent with the direction of the board of directors or other officers in accordance with the bylaws.

Four red flags to spot before a construction dispute

On behalf of Payton & Associates, LLC posted in Construction Litigation on Friday, April 12, 2019.

Construction projects hold a considerable amount of potential and promise for project owners; you are bringing to life a new space, from the ground up. Whether it's residential or commercial space, you are ultimately creating a new, engaging environment.

However, construction projects also bring several moving parts that may result in a significant dispute. As the project owner or property manager, you need to be able to identify potential red flags in a project before it becomes a severe issue.

Main types of construction defects that may lead to lawsuits

On behalf of Payton & Associates, LLC posted in Construction Litigation on Thursday, April 11, 2019.

There are construction projects occurring every day in Florida. Many homes, offices, apartment buildings and other buildings are being built and there are many designers, construction companies, suppliers and construction workers that are involved in these projects. There are also many different phases of the project and different companies that complete these various phases. This means that there are many different things that can go wrong throughout the project.

At the end of the project, it may be discovered that there were different construction defects due to the mistakes that were made during the project. The defects can result in significant damage and be very costly to the owner of the buildings. The owner may be able to recover compensation for the damages caused by the defect. However, as there are different phases of the project, it is important to know who was responsible for the defect in order to pursue compensation.

Factors used to determine tortious interference with contracts

On behalf of Payton & Associates, LLC posted in Business Torts on Thursday, April 4, 2019.

One of the basic principles of the economy in Florida is that there is competition. Therefore, there are many businesses who offer the same or similar services and products. This gives consumers choices to pick the product that best fits their needs and budgets. It also creates competition between companies to produce better products or services at competitive prices. However, this competition can also cause companies to try to gain an advantage over other companies any way possible.

This can include doing things outside the bounds of fair competition. One way companies do this is through tortious interference with contracts. This is essentially intentionally inducing a person to break a contract with a third party, which causes the company to suffer economic damages. There are certain factors that one must prove though in order demonstrate that there was in fact tortious interference. One of these factors is that the interference with the contract was improper.

David Beckham seeks real estate deal in Fort Lauderdale

On behalf of Payton & Associates, LLC posted in Commercial Real Estate on Thursday, March 28, 2019.

Former soccer star David Beckham and his group of investors have been in negotiations in south Florida to build a soccer stadium for a Major League Soccer (MLS) team. Up until recently the negotiations have been limited to the city of Miami, but recently he and his group pitched a second stadium in Fort Lauderdale and the city decided to move forward with negotiations with Beckham's group's plan over a rival proposal.

The Miami location would be the home stadium for the soccer team, and the Fort Lauderdale stadium would be the practice facility as well as the home to the management offices for the team. Both stadiums would be major real estate transactions, but the Miami location is much larger. The negotiations surround turning a golf course into a mix of office, retail, entertainment, the stadium itself and would also include 60 acres of park space for the city. In contrast, part of what won over Fort Lauderdale was the lack of commercial building that would take place. That site would be limited to the stadium and team offices as well as park space for the city.

Process for determining enforcement of a non-compete agreement

On behalf of Payton & Associates, LLC posted in Business Litigation on Thursday, March 14, 2019.

When companies in Florida are hiring new employees there are many different considerations that go into the decision about who to hire for the job. First they need to determine the work that is required and budget considerations for salaries. Then they need to go through the process of picking the best candidate for the position. After the person is chosen, the company then needs to ensure the new employee understands the benefit packages available and the new employee will likely need to sign employment contracts to define the scope of employment and other covenants that both parties must follow.

One of the covenants that many employers want their employees to agree to when they hire them is non-compete agreements and other restrictive covenants. These are to ensure that employees will not learn valuable information about the company and then move to a competitor and reveal what they have learned. When drafting these covenants, the employer must ensure that they are reasonable to protect business interests and must be reasonably limited in the length and area it restricts, which could be either geographical or a specific type of business.

Costs due to delays could lead to construction disputes

On behalf of Payton & Associates, LLC posted in Construction Litigation on Wednesday, March 6, 2019.

There are many different aspects of construction projects in Florida. The specific requirements and aspects of a construction project depend on the purpose of the building, the size of the building and many other factors. Therefore, architects and engineers design the building to the specifications desired by the owner of the project. Then the construction process begins, the foundation is laid, the basic structure is erected and then the specifics of the interior are completed.

Getting through all those steps involves many different subcontractors and materials needed at each step along the way. These projects take a long time to complete. When the project begins, planning is very important. Usually the contracts state specific timelines for when certain phases of the project will be completed as well as the when the entire project will be done. However, during many construction projects delays occur for a variety of reasons, which usually means that the costs will increase.

There are rules that must be followed for payment of royalties

On behalf of Payton & Associates, LLC posted in Business Torts on Monday, March 4, 2019.

There are many different types of music and people in Florida listen to all of these different types of music. There are also many bands and other musical artists that create the music that people listen to. The people who make the music and their labels use the music to make their living so it is very important for them that they receive the money that people pay in order to listen to it.

There are different ways that the people who own and create the music earn money. When they are on tour, they receive money from the people who pay for tickets and attend the concerts. They also earn money by selling physical copies of the music or when people stream their music on various streaming platforms. They also can allow various businesses to use their music for the promotion of their company or simply play the music. Usually when this occurs the business will need to pay royalties to the owner of the music and ultimately the musician.

We assist Florida companies facing commercial foreclosure

On behalf of Payton & Associates, LLC posted in Commercial Real Estate on Wednesday, February 20, 2019.

There are many different aspects of businesses in Florida. Companies must deal with the basics of the business such as selling their product. This includes manufacturing, packaging, shipping, marketing, advertising and other activities. Companies also must ensure their accounting is being done and they know their profits and losses. They need to deal with hiring and firing employees, payroll and other aspects of their labor force. However, in order to do these things, the company must have a building or buildings to conduct all these aspects of the business.

These companies can rent or purchase their property and buildings. When companies own buildings, they usually must obtain loans from various lenders to make the purchase. If business is going well, making the monthly payments is not an issue. However, if business slows down, figuring out how to pay back the loan can be difficult. If the company falls behind on payments, the lenders can foreclose on the property. This can really harm the business and may force it to shut down.

When contract disputes go to an arbitrator instead of courts

On behalf of Payton & Associates, LLC posted in Contract Disputes on Thursday, February 14, 2019.

People in Florida agree to do certain things for others daily. However, if one party wants to truly ensure that the other party will follow through on what they say they will do, then the parties should enter into a contract. That is why businesses in Florida usually have contracts when they enter into agreements with other businesses. These types of contracts are also usually written so if there is ever a dispute later on the parties can refer to the written terms to determine what each of their responsibilities are.

These types of contracts can contain many different terms depending on the complexity and duration of the contract. However, most companies do not always look at every clause of the contract daily. Some of these clauses are only discussed when there is already a contract dispute between the parties. Some of these clauses only determine what process and law the companies will use to resolve their disputes when they arise. One of these types of clauses are arbitration clauses.