You can take anything you want to small claims court. If you're the plaintiff, you will have the burden of proof in court. You've shared nothing here that would let us comment on your respective contractual duties pertaining to the leak at issue.
If you are out of state and it's not convenient for you to do so, you can hire a lawyer to analyze the issue and negotiate on your behalf. Your lawyer can initiate a lawsuit while you're out-of-state, but you can expect that you would have to at times travel to Florida to participate in legal proceedings.

