Q: l have a rather large judgment against a small manufacturing company that breached its contract with me. The owner of the manufacturing company appears to have shut the company down but has started up under a new company name—at the same location, with the same employees and doing the exact same type of business. Do I have any rights against this new company?
A: A You may. In a nutshell, you are looking to collect on the judgment that you already have against company #1, i.e., the “old” company by looking to company #2, namely the “new” company. You have a number of different avenues to potentially pursue. Most particularly, the situation that you describe suggests that, under Florida law, the second company may be a continuation of or successor to the first one. If the second company is what the law considers to be a true successor to the original company, it can be liable for that original company’s debts, including your judgment. The fact that the two companies appear to have the same owner and operate the same type of business out of the same address are all factors that weigh rather strongly or heavily in your favor.