Mark Fortang, who is the president of Fortang Group, Inc. (Fortang), met with partner Celia Logan yesterday.  Celia handles corporate and commercial litigation matters for the firm. Fortang wants to sue Terry Bollea (a/k/a Hulk Hogan).

 

After Terry Bollea (Bollea) and his wife Linda divorced, he purchased a parcel of real property in Harbor Beach, FL. In June 2021, he negotiated an oral agreement with Fortang, whereby Fortang was to design and construct a house on the Weston property. Bollea consented to pay Fortang the sum of $3,500,000 for Fortang's provision of design, construction, general contracting and supervision services. He further agreed that Fortang would "be paid progress payments upon periodic percentages of project completion." The parties' oral agreement was subsequently memorialized in a written contract bearing an August 2022 date, which was delivered to Bollea in early October 2022. He never signed the contract, despite his promise to do so.

Between June 2022 and November 2022, Bollea assured Fortang that the contract would be honored and that Fortang would receive full compensation for the construction services it provided under the contract. In fact, Fortang did receive payment from Bollea for a number of services it discharged under the contract, e.g., reviewing and revising construction plans, performing site stabilization, preparing a set of plans and specifications sufficient to obtain and maintain new permits for the property, setting up facilities and site supervision on the property, commencing construction on the project and "making substantial progress in several areas, including concrete, structural steel, framing, grading, and the pool," and hiring licensed architects to perform design services.

Commencing in August 2022 and continuing through November 2022, Bollea requested that Fortang meet with Jason Henley (Henley), a designer who owned and managed Henley Designs Corporation, a Florida corporation, and who had previously worked with Bollea on "speculative residential projects" in Florida. In the course of meeting with Henley, Fortang showed Henley the plans and designs for the Harbor Beach property and introduced him to various of Fortang's subcontractors and suppliers. Unbeknownst to Fortang, the meetings with Henley were part of a plan by Bollea to induce Fortang to divulge proprietary information relating to the Harbor Beach property so Bollea could terminate his contract with Fortang without paying Fortang for all of the services it had provided, and replace Fortang as the general contractor and designer.

In November 2022, Bollea terminated his agreement with Fortang, without paying the $700,000 balance then due Fortang under the contract. In addition, Bollea and Henley contacted several of Fortang's subcontractors in an effort to induce them to breach their contracts with Fortang and work directly with Bollea. They used the plans, designs and drawings Fortang had prepared, and had the permits obtained by an issued to Fortang transferred to Bollea's name. Additionally, according to Fortang, they spread "false and damaging rumors about Fortang," which included statements that "Fortang and its principals were thieves, wrongfully abandoned a job, breached contracts, could not pay its bills, engaged in dishonest billing practices, and performed substandard work." Bollea maintains that the contract with Fortang is unenforceable against him.  He never signed the written contract and he argues that this contract must be in written form and signed by him in order to be enforceable against him. He also denies the other allegations Fortang has made against him and Henley.

Find one case that is applicable to these facts and explain how it is applicable.

The case has to be from Florida seventeenth judicial court