Liquidated damages are determinable with exactness from the cause of action as pleaded by a mathematical calculation or by application of a rule of law. Boulos v. Yung Sheng Xiamen Yong Chem. Indus. Co., 855 So.2d 665 (Fla. 4th DCA 2003). Many contracts contain a liquidated damage provision that attempts…
A third-party can enforce a contract even though it is not a party to that contract if the contracting parties expressly intended to primarily and directly benefit the third-party. Bochese v. Town of Ponce Inlet, 405 F.3d 964 (11th Cir. 2005) (“Under Florida law, a third party is an intended…
The parol evidence rule is a substantive rule of law that limits the introduction of evidence to interpret the meaning of a contractual provision. King v. Bray, 867 So. 2d 1224 (Fla. 5th DCA 2004) (“The parol-evidence rule is a substantive rule of law and… provides that a written document…
Restrictive covenants like non-compete agreements and non-solicit agreements are valid if supported by one or more legitimate business interests. Fla. Stat. § 542.335. Those legitimate business interests often include the protection of trade secrets, valuable information that does not qualify as trade secret, existing customers, or future prospective customers. Id.…
The United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, in Wiand v. ATC Brokers Ltd., 96 F.4th 1303 (11th Cir. 2024), recently issued an opinion regarding a receiver’s standing to assert fraudulent transfer claims and other torts on behalf of the entity it is overseeing. To understand this new…
A trade secret plaintiff usually will consider potential damages to be recovered from the defendant, and how you will present evidence to a jury establishing those damages. This aspect of a trade secret lawsuit is not always straight-forward because a trade secret plaintiff is entitled to different damage categories depending…
Under an earlier version of Florida law concerning negligence claims, the doctrine of “joint and several liability” held that all tortfeasors were responsible for the total amount of the plaintiff’s injury regardless of the defendant’s individual fault giving rise to the accident. Gouty v. Schnepel, 795 So.2d 959 (Fla. 2001)…
A party seeking to enforce a restrictive covenant must plead and prove the existence of one or more legitimate business interests. Fla. Stat. § 542.335. The proponent typically claims to have a legitimate business interest in its trade secrets, valuable confidential information that otherwise does not qualify as a trade…
Agents are empowered to bind their principals to certain actions taken by the agents. 2 Fla. Jur. 2d Agency & Employment § 54 (2015). Agency relationships can form by written consent, oral consent, or implication from the parties’ conduct. Osorio v. State Farm Bank, F.S.B. 746 F. 3d 1242 (11th…
A fiduciary relationship exists when an individual must act in the interests of another. Watkins v. NCNB Nat’l Bank of Fla., N.A., 622 So.2d 1063 (Fla. 3rd DCA 1993) (“To establish a fiduciary relationship, a party must allege some degree of dependency on one side and some degree of undertaking…