Brannock Berman & Seider Wins Breach of Contract Appeal

After written briefing and a video oral argument conducted via Zoom, the Second District Court of Appeal swiftly affirmed a multimillion-dollar judgment for Brannock Berman & Seider’s client in a commercial appeal over a waste disposal contract.

The firm’s client purchased a successful waste collection, hauling, and recycling company in Southwest Florida. The company had a ten-year contract for the disposal of construction waste, at a favorable rate, with a landfill in DeSoto County. When the landfill refused to honor the contract, instead demanding a higher rate, the company was forced to find a replacement landfill that charged more. The company then sued to recover the difference between the higher rate for the replacement company and the more favorable rate it had contracted for.

After a nonjury trial, the trial court ruled for the company. The trial court rejected the landfill’s post-hoc justifications for terminating the contract, finding that the company had not committed a prior material breach and that the landfill was liable for the company’s damages. When the landfill appealed the adverse judgment, Brannock Berman & Seider successfully convinced the Second District to affirm. The firm’s brief and presentation at oral argument emphasized the trial court’s many favorable findings and persuasively argued that the trial court had committed no reversible error.