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.

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.