Other Areas

While a project is in on-going, often times a general contractor will ask sub-contractors to waive lien rights without first paying for the work that has been completed. A potential lienor who did not contract directly with the owner of real property, but, rather is a sub-contractor or a sub-sub-contractor must serve a ‘notice to owner’ before commencing or not later than 45 days after commencing the furnishing labor, services or materials to a project but, in any event, before the date of the owner’s disbursement of the final payment in reliance on the final contractor’s affidavit. See Fla. Stat. §713.06(2)(a). We advise clients on every aspect of lien rights, waivers, and the proper documentation needed to ensure those rights are preserved. In the event of a payment dispute, we represent contractors, subcontractors, sub-sub-contractors and suppliers in prosecuting and defending lien claims.

There are no lien rights in Florida when work is performed on publicly owned property. See Fla. Stat. §255.05. Section 255.05 is known as Florida’s “Little Miller Act”. It so called because the statute is modeled after a federal statute, 40 U.S.C. §270 known as the “Miller Act”. The purpose of Florida’s Little Miller Act is to protect subcontractors, material suppliers and laborers by providing an alternative remedy to mechanic’s lien on public projects. Florida’s Little Miller Act requires a person entering into a contract with the state or any county, city, or other political subdivision or public authority in excess of $100,000 for the repair or construction of a public facility to provide a payment and performance bond. The requirement may be waived by a local government for a contract in an amount of $200,000 or less. Accordingly, a potential lienor has the right to look to a Section 255.05 public payment bond for payment. Under section 255.05, the conditions precedent and notice requirements needed to properly bring 255.05 bond claim differ slightly from the provisions under the Florida lien statute mentioned above. Therefore, it is important to discuss these issues with a Florida Construction lawyer who is knowledgeable in these areas and can guide you in the right direction.

Florida’s Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act (FDUTPA) was created in 1973 to give consumers in Florida stronger protection against commercial wrongdoing. In short, an unfair or deceptive business practice is an action by a business that misleads consumers into purchasing their product or service. Notably, in Florida, the unfair or deceptive trade practice does not have to be intentional to be illegal. A valid claim under Florida’s Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act has 3 elements: (1) a deceptive or unfair trade practice; (2) causation; and (3) actual damages.

If you have been a victim of an unfair or deceptive business practice, JP Salas Law can help you get the compensation you deserve. Some examples of deceptive trade practices include:

• False advertising
• Deceptive guarantees
• Deceptive pricing
• Charging higher prices than advertised for a particular product or service
• Providing an unreasonably low estimate for a job and then charging more money for “extras” in order to raise the overall price
• Charging higher interest rates than advertised
• Automatic renewal of a contract without your consent

In addition, a per-se violation of FDUTPA can occur when a company’s actions violate a specific guideline, statute, rule, or public policy. Call us today to discuss your situation. We often take cases involving unfair or deceptive business practices on a contingent fee basis, meaning that we do not get paid unless you do.

When you are behind on credit card payments, your creditor can sue you for money it is owed. After months of non-payment, the credit card company will report the violations to the credit score companies and may sell your debt off to a third-party debt collector. In the worst case scenario, the credit card companies can sue you and get a judgment against you, which they file in the public records and collect by executing on assets you own, garnish you wages, or even placing a lien against your home (if it is not your homestead).

Debt settlement companies, credit counseling and debt consolidation businesses cannot represent you in court when you are sued by creditors, they can’t give you legal advice, and they can’t represent you in court when you have the opportunity to sue creditors and collectors for violating your rights — only a licensed lawyer can do so.

Prior to being sued, there are many things you can do – if you act early. You can negotiate a payment of the debt, and often times obtain a better interest rate or a reduced principal balance. In certain situations, you can dispute the debt altogether. Further, your rights may even be violated by the credit card company in their attempt to get you to pay the debt through debt collection calls, which can sometimes even result in money damages for you.

With JP Salas Law on your side, you don’t have to face the credit card company alone. We can help you fight the credit card companies and help prevent the worst-case scenario.

Education debt accounts for nearly 1.3 trillion dollars nationwide. Student loan debt of those who obtained advance graduate degrees in areas such as law, engineering, medicine and health sciences accounts for roughly 40% of the overall debt. Due to the faltering economy, historically low wages for graduates and difficult to understand and often times unforgiving re-payment terms, default rates for student loan are at an all-time high.

Most people who are in default and either getting sued or in danger of getting sued by their student loan lender need to know that doing nothing is quite possibly the worst decision.

Help is available. JP Salas Law vigorously represents and defends those facing student loan debt default or a student loan debt lawsuit. A student debt lawsuit is only a beginning of the process and may open the door to advantageous result. In fact, often times, JP Salas Law helps clients to re-negotiate the repayment terms, reduce the principal and interest owed and reduce a student loan debtor’s monthly payments. In certain circumstances, JP Salas Law can get the debt erased entirely. These results, however, are usually best obtained by hiring a student debt relief lawyer. The key is to take action early and understand the process.

Hiring a student loan defense lawyer forces the lenders to prove that:

• They legally own the debt they are suing you on.
• The loan itself is legally collectible – in many instances the debt is rendered unenforceable due to the expiration of the applicable statute of limitations.
• The amount claimed due and owing is the actual amount that is due and owing.

Although not all debt collectors violate the law, federal and state law may protect you from overzealous and harassing debt collectors.

Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA)

The Telephone Consumer Protection Act, enforced by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), protects consumers against unsolicited telemarketing calls, prerecorded messages, text messages, automated dialers and faxes.

Businesses violating TCPA violations can be forced to compensate a person or entity either for actual damages for each TCPA violation or $500 (whichever sum is greater). A court could, however, award treble damages (three times the amount of actual damages) if a violator is found to have to have “willingly or knowingly” violated TCPA regulations.

There are some exceptions to the TCPA that allow for unsolicited calls under certain circumstances. For instance, calls made for debt collection purposes are not considered TCPA violations if they are made by live agents.

The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA)

The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act enumerates certain actions that debt collectors hired by third-party collection agencies can and cannot do to debtors. Unfortunately, certain debt collectors ignore these guidelines and engage in unlawful, abusive, deceptive and unfair debt collection practices. The FDCPA allows you to seek monetary damages in the event you are harassed by a debt collector. Federal law mandates that, if successful, you are entitled to collect up to $1,000 in a lawsuit for each violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. Furthermore, if successful, the debt collector may be responsible for to paying your costs and attorney’s fees.

Here are some examples of FDCPA violations:

• Calling your cell phone without permission.
• Discussing your debt with family members, Friends or employers.
• Threatening arrest or criminal charges.
• Using lies, profanity or false threats to collect a debt.
• Excessive phone calls or calling consumers before 8:00 a.m. or after 9:00 p.m. or any other time the collectors know is not convenient.
• Attempting to collect a debt a consumer does not owe or has been discharged in bankruptcy.

Florida Consumer Collection Practices Act (FCCPA)

In many respects the Florida Consumer Collection Practices Act (FCCPA) is similar to the FDCPA. However, there are many distinguishing characteristics. For one, Florida’s act is far broader in its prohibitions than it federal counterpart. The most obvious one is that the federal act protects consumers from acts of “debt collectors” while the Florida Act is applicable to all “persons”. In addition, the FCCPA has a two-year statute of limitations while its federal counterpart has one-year statute of limitations. In addition, the statute has a very strict registration requirement for “collection agencies” which, if violated can result in criminal fines and penalties for the entities collecting debts in Florida.

Furthermore, the FCCPA provides for civil remedies consisting of actual damages and statutory damages not exceeding $1,000 in addition to court costs and reasonable attorney’s fees. Lastly, the FCCPA also requires any assignee of a debt to provide written notice to a consumer before commencing any action to collect the debt.