A business owner’s livelihood, as well as the livelihood of their employees, is tied up in the entity that they create and run to offer goods or services to others. All across Miami, men and women get up each day and put their hearts and souls into making their businesses run effectively and efficiently.
Some businesses operate without ever confronting serious legal problems, while others may seem plagued by them. When a party attempts to cause a business to fail through reckless or damaging actions, they may commit business torts against the affected entity. And, the victim business may have rights to compensation under business tort theories of law.
One form of business tort that may affect a Florida entity is commercial disparagement. This occurs when a party makes false statements about a business with the intention that the comments will cause the business to suffer financially. If the business does lose money, and the party that committed the commercial disparagement made the comments without any concern of whether they were true, the victim business may seek its damages.
Consider competing clothing retailers who are in direct competition for customers. If one of the retailers claimed that the other’s products were poorly made and fell apart after washing, it is possible customers would flock to the retailer who made the comment to avoid buying apparently defective products. If the comments were untrue and the retailer that made the comments knew that, the suffering retailer may have a commercial disparagement claim for their lost profits.
Every case of commercial disparagement should be reviewed with a business attorney. During a consultation about this or other business tort matters a knowledgeable legal professional could provide a victim business owner with the information they need to protect their entity’s rights.