Braver v. Wachob, 1:24-cv-24048

Plaintiffs Skip Braver and Chad Braver sued Derek Wachob and several business entities related to Wachob, alleging breach of a settlement agreement.
A Settlement Agreement required Defendants to pay $26 million to Plaintiffs by June 27, 2025, with time expressly stated to be of the essence.
Defendants failed to make the payment on time, breaching the agreement.
The Settlement Agreement provided that, upon default, Plaintiffs could move for entry of a stipulated final judgment in a specified form.
Defense counsel withdrew, and Defendants did not retain new counsel (as required for corporate entities) or respond to Plaintiffs’ motions, thus risking default judgment.
The Court credited partial payments received and ordered final judgment in the updated amounts requested by Plaintiffs.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Effect of Failure to Pay by Deadline	Non-payment by the deadline is material breach; entitled to judgment.	No response filed.	Material breach; judgment granted.
Whether Time Was of the Essence	Explicit language in agreement makes time essential.	No response filed.	Time was of the essence.
Entry of Default Judgment for Failure to Appear	Entities must have counsel; no response = default.	No response filed.	Entry of default judgment permitted.
Amounts to be Credited for Partial Payments	Credited partial payments and recalculated judgment amount.	No response filed.	Court credited payments as requested.

Palazzo v. Gulf Oil Corp., 764 F.2d 1381 (11th Cir. 1985) (corporate entities cannot appear pro se; must have counsel)
Centurion Air Cargo, Inc. v. United Parcel Serv. Co., 420 F.3d 1146 (11th Cir. 2005) (failure to pay when time is of the essence is a material breach under Florida law)
Sublime, Inc. v. Boardman’s Inc., 849 So. 2d 470 (Fla. 4th DCA 2003) (enforcing time-of-essence provisions in contracts)
Thomas v. Fusilier, 966 So. 2d 1001 (Fla. 5th DCA 2007) (express recitals in contract can make time of the essence)