Business & Civil Litigation

Business & Civil Litigation

Most business disputes were decided the day the paperwork got signed.

Two people start a company as friends. There is no company agreement, because writing one felt like planning for a fight. Four years later one of them wants out, both remember the deal differently, and there is no document that says who is right. The lawsuit that follows is expensive precisely because the cheap version of this conversation never happened.

Ace Law works both ends of that problem: forming the entity and drafting the agreements that keep owners out of court, and trying the cases when a contract is broken, a lien is filed, or a partner takes something that was not his.

If you have been sued and are worried about what a civil case can and cannot do to you, read our guide: Can a civil lawsuit send you to jail?

Kevin Acevedo has been trying cases for more than 25 years and is admitted in Texas, Puerto Rico and the federal courts. Commercial cases in Houston are usually won on documents, so the first thing we do is read all of them.

What we handle

Three Texas rules that decide business cases

• Four years on a contract, two on most torts. Texas generally gives you four years to sue for breach of contract or fraud, but only two years for most tort claims — negligence, property damage and the like. The same set of facts can support both, and the shorter clock is easy to miss while you are still trying to work it out.
• Attorney's fees change the math, but only if you ask first. Texas generally allows the winning party to recover reasonable attorney's fees on a breach of contract claim. To get them you normally have to present the claim to the other side and give them a period — commonly 30 days — to pay before fees start counting. A demand letter is not a formality here. It is a step that puts money on the table.
• Some agreements must be in writing. Under the Texas statute of frauds, agreements for the sale of real estate, agreements that cannot be performed within one year, and promises to pay someone else's debt generally have to be written and signed. A handshake on a two-year deal is often unenforceable no matter how clearly both people remember it.

Most Harris County business cases are tried in the district courts. Texas opened a specialized Business Court in 2024 for large commercial disputes, but the threshold is high and it does not change the strategy in the great majority of cases.

Mechanic's liens run on a calendar, not on fairness

This is where good contractors lose real money. Texas lien rights depend on sending the right notice in the right month, and the deadlines differ depending on whether the job was residential or commercial and whether you contracted directly with the owner or through someone above you.

Miss a notice month and the lien can be gone even though nobody disputes that you did the work and were not paid. You still have a breach of contract claim, but you have lost the leverage that made the claim collectible. The other direction is just as real: owners who receive a notice and keep paying the general contractor without withholding anything can end up paying twice.

If you are on a job that has stopped paying, the useful call is the one you make this month, not after the project ends.

What it costs

Formation and document work is usually a flat fee, quoted before we start. Litigation is generally hourly, and in some money claims a contingency or hybrid arrangement is possible where the facts and the amount support it.

There is no fee for the consultation. What you should expect from it is a straight answer about whether the case is worth bringing — including the cases where it is not, because a $30,000 dispute litigated to judgment can cost more than it returns. We put the fee arrangement in writing before any work starts.

Common questions