How should you as a business owner handle payment disputes and breach of contract due to non-payment or continuous late payment? How much of your attention should you give these issues (versus turning to an outside source), and what alternatives do you have to secure your interests?
Key Takeaways About Breach of Contract due to Non-Payment in California:
- Breach of contract due to non-payment in California is one of the most common business disputes.
- Look for attorneys with decades of proven, successful experience, who are able to resolve the vast majority of their breach of contract cases through effective, leveraged negotiation.
- In substantial breach of contract cases, your attorneys must be prepared to manage a lawsuit, and represent your interests in a settlement conference, mediation, arbitration, or at trial.
Four Decades of Experience Resolving Breach of Contract Cases
Breach of contract due to non-payment in California is one of the most common business disputes our attorney work to resolve each year. The Watkins Firm has four decades of experience helping to resolve payment disputes and breach of contract due to non-payment quickly and cost-effectively. In many cases it is simply enough to involve us to let the other party know you mean business.
We take a cooperative and constructive approach designed to leverage the financial damages and contractual obligations to drive the other party to the negotiating table. The proven breach of contract attorneys at the Watkins Firm are able to resolve the vast majority of these disputes and lawsuits through effective negotiation. Businesses and individuals often put off payment until the matter is placed squarely before them and a legal threat such as a lien, judgment or forfeiture of property or assets and even garnishment is demonstrated as the result of continuing down their path of non-payment or dispute.
If you are the victim of a breach of contract for non-payment it is important to note that you are required by law to take prudent, reasonable and timely action to mitigate the damages (costs) associated with the impact of the contract breach or you may not be able to recover them down the road.
Mediation, Arbitration or Trial?
If the contract breach and non-payment issue(s) cannot be resolved through negotiation there are (generally speaking) three potential venues for the dispute: mediation, arbitration or trial. When there is principled disagreement due to a contract dispute or terms regarding the issuance of draws or payments we often represent our clients in the Court’s settlement conference or in mediation. Mediation allows us to maintain a strong degree of control while turning to a third party who can help to put the issues into proper perspective while proffering a solution. The Court will require efforts to negotiate or mediate a solution before hearing any case. Mediation is the next most efficient and least expensive strategy for resolving payment disputes and breach of contract for non-payment cases.
Many contracts specify arbitration as an alternative to trial in a Court of Law. Arbitration is a highly structured legal environment which eliminates a lot of the superfluous motions associated with trial while focusing on marshalling the evidence, interviewing witnesses and ultimately rendering a decision. The neutral arbiter establishes the process for the arbitration and ultimately issues a ruling within a short period of time. The ruling of an arbitrator is final and can only be appealed in very rare circumstances usually involving collusion between the arbitrator and one of the parties.
In substantial breach of contract cases with a lot of damages and potential legal fees on the table a trial may be the right strategy for our client’s case. The experienced trial attorneys at the Watkins Firm have an extensive track record of success at trial including highly publicized and landmark cases. You have incredible power behind you when you have the Watkins Firm behind you in a breach of contract dispute.
Pro-Tip: “First of all, when you are in a lawsuit over a breach of contract or anything, you are investing money to get money. So if you don’t know how much you’re fighting for, how can you know how much you should spend? This is why it is important to develop a thorough, well-documented chronology of events and a mastery of potential damages in the case.
Secondly, if you organize and document the damages, if you can prove what the damage to you is, if you obtain and collect all the evidence about the damages, even before you worry about why you were damaged or what the law was breached, you can understand the case, the way a litigator understand understands it. You can help your lawyer and in the long run, you’ll be more successful in your case, by thinking about how you were damaged, and then working it way back to who breached what and who broke what law.
So, if you’re the party that’s caused the breach, you’ll want to minimize the risk of the damages downstream, however, its even more complicated and deeper than that. You don’t have to decide that you are the person that breached. But if you’re being accused of breaching a contract, the first thing you and your lawyer should talk about or think about is how much are the potential damages the other party is alleging that I caused and how can I, with very little expense, limit those damages?” – Dan Watkins, Founding Partner
Proven Business Dispute Resolution in a Breach of Contract due to Non-Payment Case
Are you searching for proven dispute resolution in a breach of contract due to non-payment case in San Diego or anywhere in California? If you are a business owner who needs the advice and counsel of experienced San Diego business litigation attorneys with extensive experience in non-payment and breach of contract cases we invite you to review our podcast Episode 5 – Breach of Contract as well as the strong recommendations of our clients and contact the Watkins Firm or call 858-535-1511 for a complimentary consultation today. Our unique approach to these disputes ensures a strong opportunity to resolve the issues at hand while eliminating payment disputes.
Meet Daniel Watkins:
Daniel W. Watkins is a true people person who sincerely listens. He cares deeply about what others are going through. Dan enjoys digging into the facts and finding creative solutions to problems. He contributes his insights candidly and constructively.
Dan’s interest in people make him deeply invested in every relationship and his exuberant personality makes him a true litigator. Dan fights for his clients with a fierce and calculated commitment.
Dan has practiced in the areas of business, medical practices and healthcare business, high tech/science, real estate and employment defense law since 1987. He is a trusted litigation strategist and true trial attorney with over 50 jury and bench trials to his credit. Dan has successfully represented both large companies and individuals and achieved substantial victories in well-publicized trials throughout California and the U.S.
He is experienced in business and corporate formation and administration, as well as all forms of alternative dispute resolution, including binding arbitration and mediation.
THE ROAD TO BECOMING A BUSINESS LAWYER AND LITIGATOR
Dan has almost 40 years of experience working with, for and against some of the largest insurance companies in the country. He has successfully tried and litigated cases in the areas of Healthcare Compliance, Commercial Litigation, Unfair Business Practices, Fraud, Breach of Contract, Battery, Premises Liability, Product Defect, Medical Malpractice, Discrimination, Sexual Harassment, Construction Defect, as well as Unfair Competition, Defamation, and Trade Secrets.
In December 2003, Dan commenced litigation against Health South Surgery Centers-West, Inc and its’ subsidiaries, exposing the company’s extensive mismanagement and misconduct of its’ surgery centers. Dan has also been asked by some of California’s largest municipalities and corporations to conduct legally required investigations into matters involving alleged employment discrimination and harassment.
