How and When to Use a Break Order

Sometimes commercial or business litigation is about money. But other times, it isn’t about money — it’s about property or items or who has a right to own or possess that property.

The litigation over who the property belongs to can last a long time, and during that time, there may be concern over the safety of the property — specifically, the concern that whichever party is in possession, may damage, destroy or transfer the property, while the litigation is going on.

Using a Break Order

You can certainly get a court order to command a party to preserve or protect something, but there are those instances where you just don’t trust the other side, the party possessing the property in question, to actually comply with the court’s order.

One very drastic remedy, but one that can be had, is called a break order. A break order is  a court order commanding law enforcement to break into property, and seize whatever property is listed in the order, in order to protect that property while the lawsuit is going on.

How and When It’s Used

A break order can be used in situations where property is being damaged or at risk of being transferred or lost, but it can also be used in situations where items need to be taken out of the hands of the wrongdoer to prevent harm to a party.

Imagine, for example, an employee runs off with an employer’s trade secrets, and is misusing those secrets, disseminating them to competitors or posting them online. A simple court order saying “stop it” may not be enough — you want those trade secreted documents or data out of the hands of the wrongdoer, immediately. In that case, a break order may be the best remedy for you.

Getting a Judge to Grant It

To get a break order, you have to show probable cause (a standard normally used in criminal law cases), that the property is in fact being lost or destroyed. It is a higher, tougher standard because break orders often are requested at the outset of the case, before the substantive issues in the case can actually be tried or heard by the judge.

Getting a Writ First

Often break orders happen when the sheriff already has gone out to find property where it is supposed to be, and finds it mysteriously missing. The sheriff goes out, because usually, before you can get a break order you need a writ issued by a court.

A writ is simply a request for the police to peacefully go to property and seize it from someone. Once that writ is unsuccessful, then the court will entertain the break order, which is a more forceful order, allowing police to actually break into property to get whatever is the subject of the order.

Call our Fort Lauderdale business law attorneys at Sweeney Law P.A. at 954-440-3993 for emergency help with your commercial litigation case.

Sources:

codes.findlaw.com/fl/title-vi-civil-practice-and-procedure/fl-st-sect-78-10/

flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2011/78.10