Scott L. Cagan Attorney At Law

AV-rated by Martindale-Hubbell, Scott is a business litigator, with a focus on shareholder disputes, including shareholder derivative actions, disputes between members of limited liability companies, including member derivative actions, and partnership disputes. Scott also has substantial experience representing clients in employment disputes, including claims involving non-competition and non-solicitation agreements, claims arising under Florida’s Uniform Trade Secrets Act and unfair competition law, and disputes arising under Florida’s Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act. Scott frequently represents clients at injunction hearings and trials in disputes involving non-compete, non-solicitation, and confidentiality obligations and other restrictive covenants.

Scott also maintains a construction litigation practice, which includes representation of owners of nationwide luxury hotels and resorts.

In addition, Scott represents clients in a variety of contract disputes, Uniform Commercial Code disputes, healthcare litigation, commercial real estate cases, and director and officer liability matters. He also has extensive experience in a wide range of banking litigation, including defending a variety of lender liability claims. He represents national financial institutions in federal and state courts, at both the trial and appellate levels. Other prominent law firms regularly consult and retain Scott to represent their own firms in their litigation and business matters. Scott regularly counsels clients on recommended measures to help avert litigation, including contract drafting and reviews.

Scott's practice includes representation of prominent musicians, including one who received Grammy Award nominations; a professional sport franchise; and former professional athletes.

Scott practices in both federal and state courts, including in Fort Lauderdale, Miami, West Palm Beach, Naples, Tampa, Orlando, and Jacksonville as well as throughout the United States, and has represented clients in numerous courts, including the U.S. Courts of Appeal for the 2nd, 8th and 11th Circuits, and in arbitrations. 

Scott was recognized in the 2007 through 2022 editions of Florida Super Lawyers as one of the top 5 percent of practicing attorneys in the state, for his accomplishments in the labor and employment fields. He was also listed in the 2007, 2009-2013 and 2016 editions of Florida Trend's "Legal Elite," awarded to the top 2 percent of practicing attorneys in the state, for his achievements in the commercial litigation field. In 2012, he was named one of the "Top 100 Miami Attorneys" by Florida Super Lawyers.

Scott served as judicial clerk to the late Honorable Lenore C. Nesbitt, United States District Judge for the Southern District of Florida, from 1988 to 1990. He is a member of the Florida, New York, and New Jersey bars.

Scott has published numerous articles on a variety of topics, including federal court practice and banking law. Some of his articles have been cited in published decisions by U.S. district courts and U.S. courts of appeal. He is an editor of The Florida Bar publication Florida Civil Practice Before Trial (11th ed, 2014) (Chapter 5, "Choice of Remedy"), and was the consulting author and lead editor of a two-volume publication titled Judgments in Federal Court by West Publishing, which provides guidance to practitioners on a variety of substantive and procedural issues encountered in federal court. Scott speaks at seminars on a range of topics involving the federal rules of civil procedure, the local rules of the Florida federal courts, banking matters, and labor and employment issues. 

• Background

  Scott was born in Hempstead, New York, earned his bachelor's degree in 1985 from Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and received his juris doctor degree, magna cum laude, from New York Law School in 1988, where he was Executive Articles Editor of the Law Review. Scott was also the Editor-in-Chief of the student newspaper, The Brown and White, at Lehigh University.

• Education
  • Lehigh University, B.S., business and economics (1985)
  • New York Law School, J.D. (magna cum laude, 1988) 
• Admissions
  • Florida
  • New Jersey
  • New York
  • U.S. District Court, Southern District of Florida
  • U.S. District Court, Middle District of Florida
  • U.S. Court of Appeals, 8th Circuit
  • U.S. Court of Appeals, 11th Circuit
  • U.S. District Court, District of New Jersey
  • U.S. District Court, Southern and Eastern Districts of New York
• Awards and Recognitions
  • AV Preeminent®, Martindale-Hubbell, 1998-present
  • Best Lawyers in America, 2018-2024
    • Commercial Litigation
    • Litigation - Banking and Finance
  • Florida Super Lawyers, 2007-2023
  • Top Lawyers of 2023, The Boca Raton Observer
  • "Top Lawyer," Fort Lauderdale Illustrated, 2020-2021
  • Top 100 Miami Florida Super Lawyers, 2012
  • Florida Trend Legal Elite, 2007, 2009-2013, 2016
• Professional Associations and Memberships
  • The Florida Bar
    • Business Law Section
    • Labor and Employment Law Section  
  • Broward County Bar Association
  • Miami-Dade Bar Association
  • Federal Bar Association
    • Broward County Chapter
• Articles and Publications
  • Co-Author and Editor, Chapter Five, "Choice of Remedy," Florida Civil Practice Before Trial, (14th Ed. 2022)
  • "Resolving the Conflict Under the Bank Holding Company Act: 'Force' and 'Coercion' Lend No Support to the Statute," The Banking Law Journal, Vol. 116, No. 10, December 1999
  • Lead Editor and Co-Author, "Judgments in Federal Court," West Publishing, 1997 (two volumes)
  • "Rule 34(b): Who's Organizing This Production?," Litigation Magazine, Vol. 20, No. 2, 1994
  • "A Partial Motion to Dismiss Under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12: You Had Better Answer," Federal Bar News and Journal, March/April 1992; republished in the Florida Bar Journal, May 1992
  • "Rule 58 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure: An Appealing Alternative," 21 Stetson Law Review 311, Spring 1992; republished in Federal Bar News and Journal, June 1992
  • "The Resurrection of Appeals Under Rule 58: All May Not Be Lost," Trial, June 1992
  • "Five Ways to Win on Appeal in the Eleventh Circuit," The Academy of Florida Trial Lawyers, July 1990
  • "Twelve Motion Practice Blunders in U.S. District Court," New York State Bar Journal, April 1990
  • Note, Charitable Fraud in New York: The Role of Professional Fund Raiser, 33 N.Y.L. Sch. L. Rev. 409, 1988
  • Co-Author, "Securities Arbitration: Practice and Forms," (Chapter 2, Jurisdiction) Matthew Bender and Co., Inc., 1991
  • Co-Author, "New York Form of Jury Instructions," Chapter 8 (Rescission) and Chapter 4 (Parties), Matthew Bender and Co., Inc., 1992 
• Reported Cases
  • Carey v. Kirk, 2022 WL 17996027 (S.D. Fla. Sept. 2. 2022)
  • Floridian for Solar Choice, Inc. v. Paparella, 802 Fed. Appx. 519 (11^th Cir. 2020)
  • Burke v. Custom Marine Group, 847 Fed. Appx. 578 (11^th Cir. 2021)
  • Burke v. Custom Marine Group, 2020 WL 10184340 (S.D. Fla. May 29, 2020)
  • Seminole Masonry LLC v. Hodges, 2019 WL 687918 (S.D. Fla. Feb. 19, 2019)
  • Mariano v. Hudson Bay Master Fund Ltd., 2019 WL 8367048 (S.D. Fla. August 15, 2018)
  • Stonegate Bank v. TD Bank, N.A., 596 Fed. Appx. 834 (11^th Cir. 2015)
  • Stonegate Bank v. TD Bank, N.A., 2013 WL 11320122 (S.D. Fla. Aug. 5, 2013)
  • Barber v. America’s Wholesale Lender, 542 Fed. Appx. 832 (11^th Cir. 2013)
  • 420 Julia Street, LLC v. Meecorp Capital Markets, LLC, 2011 WL 13295461 (M.D. Fla. October 7, 2011)
  • Langen v. Spencer Yachts, Inc., 2010 WL 11602605 (S.D. Fla. May 5, 2010)
  • Azar v. National City Bank, 382 Fed. Appx. 880 (11^th Cir. 2010)
  • Matthys v. National City Bank and Mortgage Electronic Systems, Inc., 2009 WL 3762632 (M.D. Fla. November 10, 2009)
  • MHM Services, Inc. v. Perry, 958 So. 2d 533 (Fla. 4^th DCA 2007)