Breach of Contract
Breach of Contract
Breach of Contract
A contract is binding and will hold weight if taken to court. To successfully claim a
breach of contract, it is imperative to be able to prove that the breach occurred.
Sometimes the process for dealing with a breach of contract is written in the
original contract. For example, a contract may state that in the event of late
payment, the offender must pay a $25 fee along with the missed payment. If the
consequences for a specific violation are not included in the contract, then the
parties involved may settle the situation among themselves, which could lead to
a new contract, adjudication, or another type of resolution.
A "material breach" is when you receive something that is different from what
was stated in the agreement. Say, for example, that your firm contracts with a
vendor to deliver 200 copies of a bound manual for an auto industry conference.
But when the boxes arrive at the conference site, they contain gardening
brochures instead.
Courts will review the responsibilities of each party of the contract to determine
whether they have fulfilled their obligations. Courts also will examine the contract
to see if it contains any modifications that could have triggered the alleged
breach. Typically, the plaintiff must notify a defendant that they are in breach of
contract before advancing to legal proceedings.
The defendant may alternatively argue that the contract was signed under
duress, adding that the plaintiff compelled it to sign the agreement by applying
threats or using physical force. In other cases, there might have been
errors made by both the plaintiff and the defendant that contributed to the breach.