Business and Legal Insights

In the 2015 case of Griffin Industries, LLC v. Dixie Southland Corp., the Fourth District Court of Appeal addressed two issues that frequently arise in landlord-tenant litigation: (i) on what basis a tenant may claim constructive eviction; and (ii) a landlord’s damages after a tenant vacates the premises.Read More

Reforeclosure can be an effective tool for eliminating omitted subordinate liens. But it has a catch!Read More

Typically, eviction of a commercial tenant does not terminate a lease under Florida law, or preclude the landlord from exercising its option to accelerate rent payments under the terms of the lease in the absence of any relevant modifying provisions in the lease agreement or evidence of landlord’s retaking possession for...Read More

Even when a party prevails on its claims in an action seeking judicial partition of property, it may not be immediately entitled to a distribution when there is a pending counterclaim that has yet to be adjudicated.Read More

In Genesis Ministries, Inc. v. Brown, Case No. 1D15-1310 (Fla. 1st DCA February 16, 2016), the First District Court of Appeal held that a challenge to a property tax lien does not need to be filed within 60 days of the certification of the tax roll.Read More

A restaurant owner successfully asserted impossibility in defense of a suit seeking to compel it to rebuild a gate in Marathon Sunsets, Inc. v. Coldiron, 41 FLW D685a (Fla. 3rd DCA 2016).Read More

In Caraccia v. U.S. Bank, N.A., the address used by the lender to send the default notice was ruled to be valid even though it was not the current property address because the PO Box address used was considered a valid address since it was provided by the owner to the U.S. Postal Service.Read More

A married couple’s reliance on the protection against forced sale of homestead property in Florida Constitution, Article X, Section 4(a) to defend a specific performance action was rejected in Mirzataheri v. FM East Developers, LLC, 41 FLW D683a (Fla. 3rd DCA 2016).Read More

Sometimes, even where the lender has the original note and introduces it into evidence at a trial in a foreclosure, the borrower challenges standing.Read More