Topkin Law prosecutes and defends breach of contract actions for businesses in Florida’s state and federal courts. By the time one of these cases is filed, the document has already resolved much of it. What remains is execution. The breach or the defense has to be framed around the language that governs, the performance record assembled, and the damages claim proved or dismantled.
The firm’s work here is informed by its transactional practice and by decades of indemnity and coverage litigation, so the strategy accounts for both what the contract says and how Florida courts have treated provisions like it.
We defend businesses with what the document and the record actually provide, whether that is an unsatisfied condition precedent, the plaintiff’s own prior breach, waiver and modification by course of dealing, setoff, failure of proof on damages, or enforcement of the limitation and exculpatory provisions the other side would rather not discuss.
Unpaid receivables under commercial agreements, vendor and service disputes, and enforcement of ownership, buyout, and transaction documents.
A large share of the firm’s contract litigation involves enforcing indemnity and defense obligations, including declaratory actions filed when a tender is refused. That work also runs through the firm’s premises and catastrophic practices.
These cases turn on damages at least as often as on liability. We build and attack damages models, litigate mitigation and consequential-damages exclusions, and pursue injunctive relief or specific performance where money will not solve the problem, as with restrictive covenants and unique assets.
Fee provisions change what a contract case is worth. Under Section 57.105(7), Florida Statutes, a fee provision favoring one party is generally made reciprocal, so a clause drafted to protect a company can end up funding the claim against it. We evaluate fee exposure on both sides at the outset, because in smaller disputes it frequently exceeds the amount actually in controversy.
Florida businesses on both sides of commercial disputes, insurers and self-insured companies enforcing or resisting contractual indemnity, property owners and tenants, and healthcare businesses in payer, vendor, and partnership disputes.
Our clients include physician practices across specialties, PIP clinics, surgery centers, diagnostic providers, and the management companies that support them. The firm represents providers in clawback and recoupment matters arising from the full range of carriers operating in Florida, including major P&C carriers such as Allstate, State Farm, Progressive, GEICO, USAA, Liberty Mutual, and Travelers, and commercial health and managed care payers such as UnitedHealthcare, Aetna, Cigna, Humana, and Florida Blue. The firm also handles matters involving Medicare administrative contractors, Medicare Advantage plans, Medicaid managed care organizations, and AHCA.
The engagement starts with the document and the arithmetic. We read what the contract requires, test it against the performance record, and put a realistic number on the recovery or exposure once fees, collectability, and the business relationship are accounted for. Clients get that assessment before the first substantive filing.
After that, motions are used to narrow and to create leverage, discovery is kept proportional to what is at stake, and resolution is pursued when the numbers support it, from a position that makes clear the firm is prepared to try the case if they do not.
Generally five years on a written contract and four on an oral one, but shorter periods and exceptions apply to particular claims, and the limitations clock can begin earlier than parties assume. Treat any deadline question as specific to the claim and get advice rather than working from the general rule.
Most commercial disputes resolve, but they resolve on terms that reflect how prepared each side appears to be. When trial is the right answer, the firm tries the case.
