By
Stephen Gebeloff, Esq.
Stephen
B. Gebeloff, P.A.
Q:
My plumbing supply company is owed money from
a General Contractor who has offices in
California. Except for filing
suit, we have exhausted all of our means in
attempting to collect our money. Should we
start our lawsuit in Florida or in California?
A:
Some contracts provide the venue in which a
cause of action should be brought. If there is
no venue provision in your contract, the
choice would be yours. If there is a
venue provision in the contract, upon getting
legal advice, some parties ignore the venue
provision and file where they feel the best
result can be achieved. There is a strategy
involved. If you filed suit in Florida,
you would require the Contractor to appear in
Florida to defend. Depending on how much
money is in dispute, the Contractor may, after
being served with your complaint, decide to
settle the matter rather than incur the
expense of defending in Florida. However, a
drawback in bringing the suit in Florida is,
in the event that a Judgment is obtained and
the Contractor does not voluntarily pay the
Judgment, collection efforts will need to be
started in California.
Once
you obtain a Florida Judgment, you would need
to domesticate the Judgment in California. You
would have to send a certified copy of the
Judgment to an attorney to record in
California. This process
unfortunately necessitates paying costs in
Florida and California. When you discuss
your options with your attorney, he or she
should be able to help you make an informed
business decision regarding whether to start
suit in Florida or whether to start the suit
in the Contractor’s State and County.
The
advice given in this article is for
informational purposes only. Each case has its
own set of fact patterns and there always
exceptions to the general rule. You
should always consult an attorney to discuss
the circumstances surrounding your case.
If you would like to discuss any issue
contained in this article or have a question
pertaining to construction law,
Contact Stephen Gebeloff, Esq. (561)953-4600
or steve@gebelofflaw.com.
Mr.
Gebeloff is an experienced litigator with the
firm of Stephen B. Gebeloff, P.A. in Boca
Raton, FL. His primary areas of practice are
creditors’ rights, commercial law and
construction law. He has extensive experience
prosecuting officers, directors and members of
entities for fraudulent transfers of assets.
He has represented developers, property
owners, contractors, subcontractors, material
suppliers and design professionals in all
facets of construction and debt collection
law.
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