Fighting a breach of contract lawsuit in Florida is easy when you work with an experienced litigation attorney. Read on to learn what you need to know about fighting a breach of contract lawsuit in Florida, how I can help you choose the best strategy for your case, and how to implement it successfully.
Fighting a Breach of Contract Lawsuit in Florida – The Best Strategies
As a Florida business litigation lawyer, I handle many business disputes every year arising from a wide variety of issues, alleged breach of contract being one of the most common. The word “alleged” is important in a breach of contract lawsuit because the plaintiff bears the burden of proof.
Although many breach of contract lawsuits in Florida have sound legal arguments, a surprisingly high percentage of such lawsuits can be successfully challenged by raising one of the following defenses:
Statute of Limitations
In the State of Florida, an injured party to a contract must file a breach of contract lawsuit against the breaching party within five years after the breach occurs. Therefore, suppose an injured party files a breach of contract lawsuit five years after the breach occurred. In that case, the court will permanently bar the claim, and the injured party will not be able to recover damages for their losses.
Fraud in the Inducement
The term “fraud in the inducement” refers to the use of deceit to cause an individual to take a disadvantageous action, such as signing a contract that does not benefit them. In other words, this type of fraud occurs when someone is misled about the facts they base for their decision to take a specific action.
Examples of this include statements such as, “by letting me take title to your property, you will pay less tax on it,” when this is obviously false, or “there is no need to read the rest of the contract – routine legal language is pretty much all you will find” when the contract in question actually contains a balloon payment.
Duress
No one can be forced by anyone to enter into any contract – at least not legally. When duress is involved in the signing of a contract, the contract is unenforceable. The law defines duress as severe influence or pressure that destroys an individual’s free will by forcing them to enter into a contract.
Florida courts will not enforce any contract into which one or more parties entered after being pressured, forced, or coerced into doing so.
Impossibility of Performance
Sometimes, a party to a contract is unable to meet their contractual obligations as established in the contract due to circumstances beyond their control. This is referred to as “impossibility of performance.” However, not all circumstances will be considered valid reasons for a party to a contract not to meet their obligations.
The circumstances that will be considered valid reasons are: 1) the supervening death or incapacity of an individual who is necessary for performance; 2) the supervening destruction of a specific physical object that is necessary for performance; or 3) supervening prevention or prohibition by law.
Unilateral or Mutual Mistakes
In this context, the term “unilateral mistake” refers to a situation in which a party to a contract does not have a clear understanding of the contractual obligations they are agreeing to meet at the time of entering into the contract. The term “mutual mistake” refers to a situation in which both parties to a contract do not have a clear understanding of their contractual obligations at the time of entering into the contract.
Under Florida law, if a party to a contract is mistaken about the obligations they agree to meet at the time of signing, that mistake may be a legitimate reason for failing to meet their contractual obligations as expected.
I can help you fight a breach of contract lawsuit in Florida, and even if you are not currently being sued, you could be in the future, and I can help prevent that from happening by revising your contracts. Call me today at (305) 921-0976 or email me at [email protected] to learn more about my business litigation services and schedule an initial consultation.
