Doing Business in Florida Blog

Don't Rob Peter to Pay Paul

February 22, 2017
Lewis M. Killian Jr.  |  Bankruptcy Code, Bankruptcy/Restructuring, Business Reorganization, Director/Officer Litigation, Labor & Employment

When businesses experience financial difficulties, it is very common for them to “rob Peter to pay Paul.” Occasionally, this takes the form of using taxes that have been withheld from employees’ paychecks to pay expenses instead of remitting those funds to the IRS.  Of course, it is well known that even though such obligations are corporate, individuals

"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.

The Rise of Transit Oriented Development

February 16, 2017
Jeffrey R. Margolis  |  Commercial Real Estate, Condominiums, Construction & Design, Environmental, Hospitality & Leisure, Land Use & Zoning, Real Estate, Real Estate Development, Urban Redevelopment

Millennials have now overtaken baby boomers as America’s largest generation, and developers must cater to this segment’s desire for convenience, connectivity and access to the urban core. As density of downtowns grow, mixed use development will emerge in suburban neighborhoods that may be farther out from the city center, but still enjoy the proximity to

Forever Barred? Does Sending a Pre-Suit Notice of Construction Defects Prevent Dismissal of a Lawsuit Based on the Statute of Repose

February 12, 2017
Jeffrey S. Wertman  |  Construction & Design, Construction Litigation, florida construction, Florida Construction Litigation Lawyer, Real Estate

The Fifth District Court of Appeal will soon decide whether sending a pre-suit notice of construction defects under Florida’s Construction Defect Statute, Section 558, Florida Statutes, commences a construction defect action and simultaneously tolls the 10-year statute of repose.

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

What Is "Race" Under Title VII's Prohibition Against Racial Discrimination?

February 2, 2017
James C. Cunningham, Jr.  |  Employment Litigation, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Labor & Employment

Is race one’s inherited biological and anthropological characteristics? Or, is race one’s cultural traits and social construct? Or, is race merely an idea? To decide whether Title VII’s prohibition against racial discrimination is violated by refusing employment to a candidate who wears dreadlocks, the Eleventh Circuit had to decide what constitutes

The Sound of Silence

February 1, 2017
Debi Galler  |  Mindfulness

Hello darkness, my old friend, I've come to talk with you again, Because a vision softly creeping, Left its seeds while I was sleeping, And the vision that was planted in my brain Still remains Within the sound of silence. Paul Simon might have been on to something when he wrote those words. In today’s world, we all could do with a bit more silence. As

Beginning April 3, 2017, U.S. companies may file H-1B petitions on behalf of their prospective foreign workers

January 26, 2017
Adriana Kostencki  |  Business Immigration

The filing period for new H-1B petitions to be counted against the annual H-1B quota for Fiscal Year (FY) 2018 will begin on Monday, April 3, 2017. Cap-subject H-1B petitions will have an employment start date of October 1, 2017 or later. In preparation for the opening of the FY 2018 H-1B filing period, employers are strongly encouraged to begin

Exclusive Arbitration Clauses and Non-Parties to Agreements: The Eleventh Circuit Holds That the Kardashians Cannot Compel Arbitration

January 23, 2017
Paul A. Avron  |  Appellate Litigation, Arbitration, Registered Trademarks

Last week, the Kardashian sisters lost their bid in the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit to compel Kroma Makeup EU, LLC (“Kroma EU”) to arbitrate a dispute.  As background, Lee Tillett, Inc. (“Tillett”) developed and registered a trademark more than a decade ago for a line of cosmetics known as “Kroma” cosmetics.  Tillett gave Kroma

The Fight Over Short Term Rentals – Two Competing Bills Could Change the Short Term Rental Landscape in Florida

January 22, 2017
Jeffrey R. Margolis  |  Hospitality and Leisure, Real Estate, Short Term Rentals, State & Local Government

Florida is renowned for its tourism and real estate.  The two are intertwined, a symbiotic relationship that has continued to grow. And yet, the emergence of short term rentals has created a rift in the relationship, and regulation of short term rentals is a hot issue in both local governments as well as the Florida legislature.   The rise of the on-line

The Life Settlement Industry – Bankruptcy Issues - Part 1

January 16, 2017
Leslie Gern Cloyd and Deborah B. Talenfeld  |  Bankruptcy Litigation, Bankruptcy/Restructuring, Business Reorganization

A “life settlement” is the sale of a life insurance policy to a third party for a value in excess of the policy's cash surrender value, but less than its death benefit.  The life settlement industry focuses on the purchase and sale of life settlements or fractional interests in life settlements to investors.  These investors may be anyone from

Ruden: The Story of the First Successful Reorganization of a Law Firm and Lessons Learned

January 10, 2017
Leslie Gern Cloyd  |  Bankruptcy Litigation, Bankruptcy/Restructuring, Business Reorganization

Ruden McClosky, P.A. (“Ruden”), a formerly large and prestigious law firm that was founded in 1959 and at its peak had more than 200 attorneys commenced a bankruptcy case by filing a petition for Chapter 11 relief (“Petition”) in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Florida on November 1, 2011.   The firm was a victim of the