Does a breach of contract have to ruin the business relationship or worse, to lead to expensive, protracted litigation? While there are a few scenarios where this may be the case, there vast majority of the Watkins Firm’s breach of contract scenarios never reach a courtroom. In fact, the Watkins Firm is able to resolve the vast majority of our breach of contract cases through effective, leveraged negotiation. This is the least expensive and fastest proven strategy to resolve any business dispute.
And what is the value you place on the underlying business relationship? Isn’t there a reason you were in a contract to begin with? At the Watkins Firm we understand the realities of business and the practical nature of business relationships and the bumps that come along the way.
Many of our clients value the preservation of the relationship as much as the resolution of the actual breach of contract itself. Our legal work is focused upon the goals and objectives of our clients, and how they define “success” in a given business situation. Most of our legal work actually comes down to a “leveraged negotiation.” Our experienced attorneys are able to have conversations with these business partners that you may not be able to have. There are “pressure points” that we can apply on behalf of our clients that achieve immediate results so that a breach of contract does not have to ruin the business relationship with a valued supplier or customer.
San Diego Courts are far too clogged with cases, and it will be much more than a year before business litigation makes its way before a Judge. We work through effective and leveraged negotiation, mediation and/or arbitration to reach a resolution that achieves our client’s goals as well as the underlying breach of contract.
Pro-Tip: “a minor breach means that you still have a contract. You still have an agreement and you can demand performance, or you can demand that you have to give less performance on the other side, but yet the contract isn’t completely breached and it’s not over. A material breach gives you more remedies, remedies that are important and may sound minor today. But there’s been many a situation where having a material breach gives the party who was breached or damaged the right to rescind the contract or the right to specific performance, and forced the performance of the contract. All of these things have amazing consequences, if you look at factual situations in breach of contract law.
One of the important factors when you have a breach of contract case in front of you is bargaining power! What is the position and the identity of the people involved in the contract? People who enter into most contracts that are worth filing a lawsuit over, have some sort of bargaining power, or they don’t have a form of bargaining power. Resolving business disputes through a lawsuit costs money. Can you collect the damages if you win? Some of these contracts are entered into, by tiny corporations with no assets, so they breach and they don’t care if you Sue them because they’re never going to be able pay. There’s no ability to collect any judgment.
So all those little subtle things about real life, how to sue somebody or how to defend a lawsuit for breach of contract, they come into play because after there’s a judgment, there’s still a collection process. Our clients need to consider what is going to happen if a lawsuit is filed. Will it damage their business reputation? If we file suit, can the other side sue us back? Should you sue now, or should you wait? There is definitely an issue of timing. What is the defendant doing in their life? What are you doing in your life? How is this all going to affect you? These are the realities, the types of things you wouldn’t learn in law school, but you learn after almost 40 years of doing this, that suing someone for breach of contract or defending someone for breach of contract gets much more complicated than just knowing the law.” – Dan Watkins, Founding Partner
Does a breach of contract have to ruin the business relationship or protracted litigation. No, especially if it is associated with a valued business relationship. We are often working with external companies or internal disputes involving important business relationships.
If you are experiencing a few challenges in a business relationship or are faced with a breach of contract 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. We will work on your behalf to resolve the dispute in a manner that is consistent with your definition of “success” while preserving all profitable business relationships.
