General

What are other forms of compensation for a breach of contract?

Contracts are formed when two or more parties agree to an exchange. It includes reciprocal duties of payment and performance of the agreed task. Usually it is money for goods or money for some sort of services. Generally these contracts are kept and everyone walks away happy. But what happens if you perform the service and the other party refuses to pay? This is called a breach of contract and there are several remedies available. This article will go over some of those remedies.

For a breach of contract you can either seek damage or some sort of equitable remedy. Damages are money paid to compensate you for your loss and there are many different types. This article will discuss the other types of remedies, namely: specific performance, cancellation of the contract and restitution.

Specific performance is an action to force the other party to perform their part of the agreement. Think about it as the opposite of an injunction. An injunction prevents someone from doing something, a negative action.

Specific performance forces someone to do something, a positive action. You can get an order for specific performance if the subject of the contract is rare or unique and damages cannot compensate you for your loss. For example, if you are purchasing a rare book or piece of art. There are no other replacements for those items therefore specific performance might be ordered.

Cancellation involves voids the contract and relinquishes all parties of their obligations. Restitution is ordered if, under the contract, you gave a benefit to the breaching party and it would be unfair to let them keep that benefit. In this case restitution would return whatever benefit you gave.

If your business partner breached a contract with you then you may want to speak to an attorney. How you proceed with litigation largely depends upon the type of contract, the type of breach and how much harm you suffered. It can become much more complicated than you may initially appreciate. An attorney can review the situation and help you come up with a strategy to tackle it.

Mon Aug 27, 4:10pm