Our firm has handled numerous real estate cases in court, arbitration, lien proceedings and alternative dispute resolution. These cases have included the following:
- Disputes over boundary lines
- Storm water runoff issues
- Erosion control issues
- Disputes with neighboring property owners
- Landlord tenant issues
- Evictions
- Foreclosure
- Filing of liens
- Defense of lien foreclosures
- Prosecution of lien foreclosures
- Construction defects
- Sick building cases including mold and asbestos
Why the construction pre-suit alternative dispute resolution process usually doesn't work
Builders have convinced legislatures in many states to force an owner to make a demand and attempt to settle before they can start the court process or the arbitration process. In many cases this becomes nothing other than a useless delay. Many times builders and contractors simply ignore the settlement demand or, the builder makes an unreasonable response, not even close to what the owner needs to come out “whole.”
One of the biggest reasons for this is a recent case which held that insurance companies do not have to pay for contractor's lawyers during this process unless the contractive insurance specifically requires it. In the case of X X X, the Florida Supreme Court ruled that if the contract excludes the pre-suit alternative dispute resolution then the builder is on its own. As a result, many builders simply will ignore you. This is why I attach the form shown here which you can do yourself and save yourself a little bit of money. Don't worry: if you don't do the process properly, then, with the help of a lawyer, you can try a second time and you will simply be out a relatively short amount of time.