Business Litigation

Levy & Partners is contract litigation attorney in Florida. The Firm can provide the knowledge and experience of a large firm, while giving our clients the hands-on service and attention to detail that only a smaller firm can truly offer. Our contract  lawyers regularly go beyond the customary services, tailoring their work to the specific needs of each client. Additionally, our experienced contract attorneys ensure that every agreement, from business contracts to complex corporate deals, is carefully crafted and strategically aligned to protect your interests and achieve your business goals.

Our services include forming a business and addressing the initial corporate formalities to the more complex transactional matters, sometimes involving international parties located in several different jurisdictions overseas. We have drafted an expanding number and variety of commercial contracts, including employment and severance agreements, leases, private placements, shareholder agreements, employment agreements, stock pledge agreements, security agreements, corporate resolutions, operating agreements and restrictive covenant agreements. Our clientele in this practice area is diverse and spans from sophisticated high net worth investors to small businesses.

Contract and Agreement Preparation

We advise clients regarding all types of business and commercial agreements. In addition to providing assistance in the strategic negotiation of commercial contracts, our attorneys review and carefully draft most types of business agreements, including, but not limited to, the following:

• Purchase/Sale Agreements
• Employment and Severance Agreements
• Nondisclosure, non-circumvention, non-compete, and non-solicitation agreements
• Shareholder and LLC Operating Agreements
• Vendor/Customer Agreements
• License Agreements
• Distribution Agreements
• Royalty Agreements
• Commercial and Residential Lease Agreements
• Non-Competition Agreements
• Confidentiality Agreements
• Joint Venture Agreements
• Consignment Agreements
• Employee handbooks
• Buy/Sell Agreements
• Pledge and Security Agreements
• Promissory notes, mortgages and UCC filings
• Invoice terms and conditions
• Business Transactions and Issues

We Provide a Wide Range of Services to Our Business Clients, Including:

• Buyer or selling assets or businesses
• Acquisition of bankrupt and distressed assets or businesses
• Securities law compliance
• Partnerships, joint ventures, and partner or shareholder relations
• Directors’ and officers’ liability
• Corporate formalities including operating agreements, meeting resolutions and corporate bylaws
• Corporate Governance
• Corporate workouts

Contact Our Contract Attorney in Florida

For expert assistance with contract and agreement drafting, we invite you to contact us by filling out the contact form on this page. Let our experienced attorneys help you ensure that your documents are comprehensive and legally sound.

Schedule your consultation online or call us at (954) 727-8570.

Frequently Asked Questions

Are contracts required to be in writing to be enforceable?

In some cases, a verbal agreement may constitute a binding contract, but in other situations, an agreement must be reduced to writing to become a binding contract. “Statutes of frauds” identify those types of contracts which must be in writing. For example, in Wisconsin contracts for the sale of real estate, leases for real property with a term of more than one year, real estate commission agreements, certain contracts that by their terms are not to be performed within one year, and contracts to pay another person’s debts, must generally be in writing. However, there are exceptions to the statute of frauds rules which may apply. The statute of frauds rules vary from state to state. Equitable remedies may in some cases be available to enforce an agreement that fails to comply with the applicable statute of frauds. Even in situations where a verbal agreement could be enforceable, the best practice is, in most cases, to reduce the agreement to writing to confirm the parties’ understanding and acceptance of the terms.

What are the minimum requirements to form a contract?

Every contract requires three basic elements: an offer, acceptance of the offer, and consideration. “Consideration” can include the payment of money, providing goods or services, or the mutual exchange of promises.

Are some contracts unenforceable or void?

Contracts in some cases may be found to be unenforceable or voidable due to misrepresentation, illegality, unconscionability, duress, undue influence, or incapacity of one of the parties.

When does a breach of contract occur?

A breach of contract generally occurs when a party fails to perform its obligations under the contract and such failure to perform is not excused by the non-breaching party. Examples of a breach of contract include a failure to pay for goods or services, providing defective merchandise, or failing to deliver goods or services under the time frame specified in the contract. A breach may also occur if a party violates a covenant or other term in the contract.

Commercial business litigation simply refers to any type of legal conflict relating to business issues. When matters become highly contentious between two or more businesses or corporations and one company takes legal action against the other, it is referred to as commercial litigation. Commercial litigation is a broad term that refers to all business conflicts, whereas business law itself is distinct in that it also covers the drafting of contracts and agreements (matters that may one day lead to a dispute). In simple terms, commercial litigation typically involves one or more businesses locked in a dispute over money or some other type of property.

Common examples of commercial litigation include the following:

• Breach of Contract –A breach of contract can involve purchases and sales of securities, real estate transactions, agreements to provide goods or services, or mergers and acquisitions.
• Employment Disputes – Disputes over health and pension benefits, overtime, age, race, gender or religious discrimination, all of these would fall under the category of employment disputes.
• Tortious Interference with Contract –This occurs when a third party successfully interferes with or otherwise prevents the performance of an agreement between two parties.
• Breach of Fiduciary Duty – iduciary duty is an obligation to act in the best interests of another party or entity. For example, a corporation’s board member will have a certain fiduciary duty to the shareholders, while a trustee has a legal obligation to the beneficiaries of an estate. It’s not uncommon for people in a position of trust such as corporate officers, directors, agents, trustees or partners to violate that trust and their fiduciary duty to the company they were working for or with.
• Fraud and Deceptive Trade Practices – Any type of fraudulent activities and misrepresentations in business transactions.
• Disputes Over Non-Compete Clauses – These disputes involve non-competition, non-solicitation, and non-disclosure agreements by former business associates, owners and employees. When there is a breach in one of these clauses, it may result in a lawsuit that includes a request for emergency relief by means of a pre-trial injunction or a restraining order.
• Antitrust Violations – Antitrust violations cover price discrimination, price fixing conspiracies, monopolizing a market, and conspiracies to allocate customers, or divide territories or otherwise control and prevent fair competition in the marketplace.
• Violating Intellectual Property Laws – Violations against intellectual property laws including: patents, copyrights, trademarks, trade dress, service marks and also trade secrets.
• Debt Collection – Collecting various types of debts such as guaranty agreements, promissory notes, and mortgages and deeds of trust.

Other types of commercial litigation include: partnership disputes, Civil RICO, ERISA, business dissolution, class actions, franchise issues, and shareholder issues among others.

Why Hire a Commercial Litigation Lawyer?

Commercial litigation is very specialized and often complex. Commercial litigation can also cover a wide variety of civil and criminal law matters on both state and federal levels. An experienced attorney can advise you of your legal rights and obligations to help save you money and legal hassles down the road. A qualified attorney can also help by giving you timely advice that can save you from costly litigation.

What is Involved When Litigating a Commercial Litigation / Business Issue?