WHAT ARE OUR AREAS OF PRACTICE?
We are proud that two among us have clerked for Federal Bankruptcy Judges before coming to the Firm. When loan enforcement litigation and debt restructure are pursued, obligors commonly seek bankruptcy relief. Whenever possible, the Firm seeks results for its non-debtor clients that can be achieved with minimal time, expense, rancor, and uncertainty.
Anthony & Partners real estate practice area is headed by Frank A. Lafalce. With extensive legal and banking experience in real estate transactions and real estate finance, our Firm is uniquely qualified to serve the needs of real estate developers, lenders and investors. We represent lenders, borrowers, businesses, individuals, commercial landlords and tenants in hotel, retail, office, restaurant, golf course, apartment, condominium, mixed-use, multifamily, marinas and other commercial and residential real estate projects throughout the State of Florida.
Anthony & Partners regularly represents clients in real estate litigation including breaches of purchase and sale contracts, landlord-tenant disputes, commercial evictions, the establishment and enforcement of easements as well as boundary disputes, trespass and nuisance claims.
A significant percentage of the Firm’s work involves the restructuring of secured debt in a consensual context with obligors having reasonable expectations in light of underlying business realities. Unlike the origination and documentation of new loans, the planning and documentation of loan restructures in a troubled debt context requires special attention in many respects.
Our experienced attorneys counsel banks taking title by foreclosure and determining whether to lend on security subject to association declarations, individuals in deciding whether to buy in a certain community, homeowners fighting unjust assessments or restrictions, businesses subject to commercial condominiums or in the business of buying property subject to community associations, and the boards of homeowners associations and condominiums on all legal issues involving development, declaration amendments, maintenance, governance, enforcement and assessments to make sure that the proper steps are taken to avoid litigation and that no one is charged more than the law prescribes.
The Firm’s members have more than thirty-five years of collective experience representing court-appointed fiduciaries, including Chapter 11 trustees, Chapter 11 examiners, reorganization trustees, special litigation trustees, Chapter 7 trustees, all in Bankruptcy Court. The State of Florida’s “Assignment for the Benefit of Creditors” statute permits a state law alternative to Chapter 7 under the federal bankruptcy scheme.
Practice area includes business formation, general corporate representation, shareholder agreements and disputes, and structuring, negotiating and documenting sophisticated business transactions.
Loan enforcement litigation typically occurs in state court, but is also at times pursued in federal court when jurisdiction exists. The Firm has represented more than fifty financial institutions and comparable lenders in litigation to recover on notes, recover on guaranties, foreclose mortgage liens, replevy personal property, and address all manner of affirmative defenses, counterclaims, and similar gambits presented by obligors in response to the same.
Organizations and corporate officers are often surprised to learn they are the target of False Claims Act litigation or claim brought by an insider or whistleblower. These claims are filed under seal, and depending upon the type of claim, the U.S. Government may intervene in the case.
Our society is aberrantly plagued by frivolous litigation. Our business environment suffers when parties to distressed lending relationships resort to frivolous “lender liability” litigation as a method of achieving business objectives. Members of the Firm have successfully defended two large lender liability lawsuits before such claims were certified as causes of action. Members of the Firm have successfully defended an international financial institution from a publicly traded Florida-based manufacturer seeking more than $50,000,000 in monetary damages for alleged fraud, violation of the State of Florida’s “Civil Theft Statute,” and on other grounds.
While garnishment, levy, and other familiar debt collection activities are among the Firm’s standard, post-judgment undertakings, large judgments often require a unique array of knowledge, experience, and good judgment. The Firm analyzes representations involving the collection of large judgments with an eye toward locating, recovering, and liquidating fraudulent transfers utilizing the State of Florida’s version of the “Uniform Fraudulent Transfer Act.” The Firm takes seriously the rights of creditors to initiate involuntary bankruptcy cases under certain circumstances. We have multiple examples of seven figure recoveries obtained by members of the Firm that stem solely from adversarial judgment enforcement activity with no ultimate expense borne by the client creditor.