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.

When purchasing a home from a homebuilder, there is an important consideration when it comes to the limited warranty you receive around the time you close on the home. That limited warranty likely includes an arbitration provision requiring you to arbitrate your disputes, such as construction defect claims, against the homebuilder. That arbitration provision will […]

The post CONSIDER THE LIMITED WARRANTY FROM YOUR HOMEBUILDER appeared first on Florida Construction Legal Updates.

In a recent property insurance coverage dispute, an issue on appeal pertained to the “prejudice” jury instruction associated with the insured’s failure to comply with post-loss policy conditions. The trial court found that the prejudice only pertained to prompt notice and not other post-loss policy conditions. This was reversed on appeal as prejudice applied to […]

The post PRESUMPTION OF PREJUDICE APPLIES TO ALL AFFIRMATIVE DEFENSES REGARDING INSURED’S FAILURE TO COMPLY WITH POST-LOSS POLICY CONDITIONS appeared first on Florida Construction Legal Updates.

Most, if not all, jurisdictions, including the federal government, have what is known as a “Prompt Payment Act.”  The objective is to ensure prompt payment. If prompt payment is not made, the Prompt Payment Act provides for interest penalties, as well as potentially other costs such as attorney’s fees. But the thing is, it’s not […]

The post BONA FIDE DISPUTE DEFEATS VIOLATION OF PROMPT PAYMENT ACT appeared first on Florida Construction Legal Updates.

In a case out of the Civilian Board of Contract Appeals, F.O.G., LLC v. Department of the Interior, CBCA 8203, 2026 WL 1191881 (CBCA 2026) a contractor claimed damages that included “financial hardship” damages due to slow payments. The financial hardship damages included personal damages to the contractor’s president and his wife. Are these damages recoverable? […]

The post ARE “FINANCIAL HARDSHIP” DAMAGES RECOVERABLE? appeared first on Florida Construction Legal Updates.

Workers compensation insurance is important. As an owner, you want to ensure the contractors you hire have workers compensation insurance. Assuming you hire a contractor that is statutorily exempt from workers compensation, you want to make sure, no exception, that any subcontractor that is hired has workers compensation insurance. (Regardless, you always want subcontractors to […]

The post POTENTIAL GAP IN WORKERS COMPENSATION IMMUNITY STATUTORY FRAMEWORK appeared first on Florida Construction Legal Updates.

In the prior posting, I discussed a case dealing with a differing site condition. In that case, the owner did not have an affirmative duty to make a representation and there was no inaccurate representation made by the owner that misled the contractor. Well, what about when there is an inaccurate misrepresentation regarding the site? […]

The post INACCURATE REPRESENTATIONS CAN LEAD TO DIFFERING SITE CONDITIONS CLAIM appeared first on Florida Construction Legal Updates.

If you are entertaining a differing site conditions claim, consider this Third District Court of Appeals case from the mid-90s. In Hendry Corp. v. Metropolitan Dade County, 648 So.2d 140 (Fla. 3d DCA 1995), a contractor was hired by Dade County to demolish the old Rickenbacker Causeway in Miami. The original 1941 plans of the […]

The post DIFFERING SITE CONDITIONS CLAIM REQUIRES A MISREPRESENTATION appeared first on Florida Construction Legal Updates.

Contract drafting and interpretation matters. A case dealt with the potential conflict with prefatory language in an agreement compared with operative provisions in the agreement. The trial court held that the operative provisions control. I discussed this case here where the appellate court reversed based on the prefatory language. But, through a motion for rehearing, […]

The post PREFATORY CONTRACT LANGUAGE CANNOT BE USED TO CREATE AN AMBIGUITY WITH OPERATIVE PROVISIONS appeared first on Florida Construction Legal Updates.