Florida Construction Legal Updates

In order to procure bonds (payment and performance bonds), you need to sign a General Agreement of Indemnity (referred to as the “GAI”) with the surety (bonding company). It does not matter the surety issuing the bonds, the terms and conditions in the General Agreement of Indemnity are largely consistent. These terms and conditions are […]

The post SURETY REQUIRING COLLATERAL SECURITY UNDER GENERAL AGREEMENT OF INDEMNITY appeared first on Florida Construction Legal Updates.

One of the statutory vehicles to shorten a construction lienor’s statute of limitations to foreclose on a construction lien is through a “show cause” summons that essentially requires the lienor to foreclose on the lien within 20 days from receipt of the “show cause” summons.  This is a statutory procedure under Florida’s Lien Law in […]

The post LIENOR DEALING WITH “SHOW CAUSE” SUMMONS BY CONDOMINIUM UNIT OWNER appeared first on Florida Construction Legal Updates.

Florida’s Sixth District Court of Appeals in Atout v. HHM Land Trust Dated October 29, 2013, 51 Fla.L.Weekly D1569a (Fla. 6th DCA 2026) recently included an extensive discussion on Florida’s independent tort doctrine. The independent tort doctrine is an important legal doctrine, particularly when parties are in contractual privity. This doctrine stands for the proposition […]

The post WHAT IS THE INDEPENDENT TORT DOCTRINE? NEW CASE EXPLAINS… appeared first on Florida Construction Legal Updates.

A recent decision out of the Federal Claims Court explains the post-award bid protest standard of review. In Massman Construction Co. v. U.S., 2026 WL 1971985 (Fed.Cl. 2026), a protestor brought a post-award bid protest after the Army Corps of Engineers awarded the contract to another contractor. The protestor argued that the Army Corps (government) […]

The post FEDERAL BID PROTEST STANDARD OF REVIEW AND DISPARATE TREATMENT WITH RATINGS appeared first on Florida Construction Legal Updates.

A 2024 bankruptcy ruling, In re Edgewater Construction Group, Inc., 657 B.R. 668 (S.D.Fla. 2024), touched upon an interesting issue when it comes to construction liens.  Is a construction lien fraudulent simply because the lien includes amounts not yet due? Not necessarily. In this bankruptcy dispute, the subcontractor debtor (that filed for bankruptcy) recorded two […]

The post CONSTRUCTION LIENS: LIENING FOR AMOUNTS NOT YET TECHNICALLY DUE DOES NOT MEAN LIEN IS FRAUDULENT appeared first on Florida Construction Legal Updates.

When a party is preserving their construction lien rights, the party will look to the recorded Notice of Commencement. This is the recorded document that provides the lienor with the information for purposes of preserving construction lien rights. A Notice to Owner company will typically rely on the Notice of Commencement to serve Notices to […]

The post INSUFFICIENT NOTICE OF COMMENCEMENT AND CONSTRUCTION LIEN RIGHTS appeared first on Florida Construction Legal Updates.

A recent non-construction case touches upon the doctrine of substantial performance when it comes to payment. In this case, a club was to make two payments to secure a rapper’s attendance.  The first payment was made.  The second payment was made but was a few hundred dollars short of the agreed amount. The rapper did […]

The post DOCTRINE OF SUBSTANTIAL PERFORMANCE WHEN IT COMES TO PAYMENT appeared first on Florida Construction Legal Updates.

A settlement agreement does not need to be executed for it to be enforceable as long as there was a MEETING OF THE MINDS.  The same rings true for any contract regardless of whether the contract is signed – THERE NEEDS TO BE A MEETING OF THE MINDS. In a recent case dealing with the […]

The post SETTLEMENT AGREEMENTS AND CONTRACTS REQUIRE A MEETING OF THE MINDS appeared first on Florida Construction Legal Updates.

There’s been a recent trend in Florida case law that has figuratively “killed” unlicensed contractors.  Here’s another one.  The moral to this trend and case is simple: make sure you have the proper licenses prior to serving as a contractor under Florida law. Trying to be cute, as seemed to be the situation in this […]

The post TREND CONTINUES WHERE UNLICENSED CONTRACTORS HAVE NO RECOURSE appeared first on Florida Construction Legal Updates.

If a general contractor is going to have a conditional payment bond, it needs to ensure it subcontracts contain pay-if-paid  or pay-when-paid provisions.  This conditional payment language in subcontracts is the general contractor’s defense that it doesn’t have to pay a subcontractor UNTIL owner has paid the general contractor for the subcontractor’s work. The general […]

The post CONDITIONAL PAYMENT BOND CONSIDERATION-MAKE SURE THERE IS PAY-IF-PAID PROVISION appeared first on Florida Construction Legal Updates.