What do you do when the need for emergency repairs arises when commencing or complying with Chapter 558 pre-suit requirements? For example, say you are a residential property owner and have water coming through your roof and/or skylights, along with other roof construction defects. Meanwhile, you have engaged an expert consultant or engineer and decided […]
Litigation
Legislation to Significantly Refurbish Florida’s Construction Defect Law Moving Through the Legislature
Florida SB 1246 (related HB 911) seeks major changes to Florida’s construction defect law, Chapter 558, Florida Statutes, including repealing the pre-suit notice and opportunity to repair requirements (notice of claim, reasonable inspection of the property, and settlement offers) and requiring nonbinding arbitration in all construction defect cases. The bill was introduced on February 20, […]
Florida Appellate Court Says Substantial Compliance Sufficient
A Florida appellate court issued a significant opinion for Florida’s policyholders. In Himmel v. Avatar Property & Casualty Insurance Company, the Fourth District Court of Appeal reversed a summary judgment a trial court had entered against an insured for failing to comply with the conditions in the insurance policy and ruled there were factual issues […]
Are You Caught in the Storm?: What Bankruptcy Trustees Need to Know About Hurricane Claims
On the heels of last year’s Hurricane Irma, everyone is mindful about the upcoming 2018 hurricane season. Last year, Hurricane Irma hit Florida and left about 65% of the state without power. In the months following the storm, businesses in the affected areas often struggled to recover, and it was a more difficult process […]
Business Owners Beware: Defenses to the Big Bad Bankruptcy Trustee’s Suit Against Your Business for Fraudulent Transfers (Part II)
This article continues from a previous article by this author, available here: Your business now faces an adversary complaint filed by the bankruptcy trustee. The complaint has several counts alleging that your business received fraudulent transfers of assets from a debtor in bankruptcy. The complaint alleges two types of fraudulent transfers. The first is actual […]
The Eleventh Circuit Reaffirms the “Person Aggrieved” Standard
The Eleventh Circuit recently reaffirmed the “person aggrieved” doctrine in In re Petricca, 17-10325, 2018 WL 1020046, at *1 (11th Cir. Feb. 22, 2018). The person aggrieved doctrine provides that a person may appeal from a bankruptcy court’s order only if he is a person aggrieved by the order. The doctrine limits the […]