By Eduardo A. Maura. I’ve represented dozens of small businesses throughout the years. The main concern or question I am asked is still: How do I protect my business from lawsuits? The first thing that comes to mind is compliance. It is extremely important that businesses comply with all laws, regulations, and codes. Oftentimes, during litigation, litigants will use any violations of the law, ordinance,…
Ayala defeated the Defendant Corona Seeds’ Motion for Summary Judgement (MSJ). An MSJ is a request to the court in which the party moving argues that there are no factual issues in dispute, and the judge, rather than the jury, should decide the case in its favor. In the case, Ayala’s clients, two Peruvian growers, allege that they were sold defective seeds from the defendant…
There is a myriad of issues that can make an otherwise great contractual relationship go wrong. In this article we discuss the three most important ones we’ve found throughout the years: Lack of, or insufficient paper evidence of the contract: Believe it or not, one of the main problems is that we can’t find the actual contract. Whether it is finding signed version, all the…
Shareholder disputes are unfortunately not uncommon. Partners start with plenty of enthusiasm and ideas, but little of these ideas are placed in concrete sentences, in a binding piece of paper. Let’s make this graphic but describing a situation we’ve faced with many clients through out the years. In a normal partnership, let’s say of two that are 50/50 in ownership, there is always one partner…
After nearly two years of contentious litigation, Ayala’s case on behalf of its client, a Miami Medical Center, is set for jury trial in August 2019. In the case, Ayala’s client claims that the defendant, wrongfully terminated its contract with it, under bogus allegations of violations of the law, in an effort to transfer Ayala’s client’s patients to other friend-centers of (or in association with)…
Ayala filed a breach of contract action against a Miami Condominium Association. Ayala’s client, a Miami contractor, had entered into a one year agreement to perform diverse services for the Association. In what’s not (unfortunately) unusual in condo associations behavior, the association disregarded Ayala client’s contract once there was a change in the board of directors, to favor contractors that are friendlier to the new…
Ayala filed a Class Action on behalf of its client, and as representative of an entire class of plaintiffs, at the popular Miami Mall of the Americas. The lawsuits names the Mall owners, Sterling Corporation, a conglomerate with dozens of assets nation-wide, and other related defendant, SC-Mota Associates Limited Partnership. The class action alleges that Sterling, once it signed a deal with Costco, it completely…
On August 28, 2018, the U.S. Central District of California substantially denied the Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss all claims brought on behalf of Ayala’s two Peruvian clients. The lawsuit alleges the “Defendant . . . knowingly or with reckless disregard for the truth shipped Plaintiffs certain seeds, in such deteriorated condition that they caused substantial damages to Plaintiffs’ lands, crops, and clients, virtually destroying their…
Unjust Enrichment is a legal theory applicable when one person is enriched at the expense of another in circumstances that the law deems unfair. It is usually used when there is no valid contract or no contract at all between the parties. The elements of unjust enrichment are: (1) plaintiff conferred a benefit upon the defendant, who has knowledge of that benefit; (2) defendant accepts…
Ayala files lawsuit in the 11th Judicial Circuit of Florida against a self-declared investment adviser’s scheme targeting foreigners. As stated in the Complaint, “[Defendants] . . . held themselves out to be experienced real estate investors and investment advisers able to purchase foreclosures properties at auction, and sell them at large profits.” Under the guise of being experienced investment advisors, the Defendants persuaded the Plaintiffs,…
