A failure to pay breach of contract case involving commercial goods or services in California is unfortunately quite common. If a business client fails to pay for your goods or services there are specific actions which must be taken to protect your interests and maximize the likelihood that you will ultimately receive payment.  Your business should have a proven strategy in place that begins the day following the due date of a payment for contract goods or services.

Most businesses want to preserve customer relationships, and there should be a series of texts or emails, physical mail through the US postal service, phone calls and even in-person collection procedures.  When those collections efforts fail, what steps should you take?  When faced with a failure to pay breach of contract our clients turn to the Watkins Firm to take the next steps to ensure the best possible outcome, while preparing for potential litigation.  The Watkins Firm has 40+ years of experience serving the business, science and tech, real estate and medical / healthcare communities here in San Diego and across California.

A letter from the Watkins Firm to the non-paying party shows that you are serious about enforcing your rights under the contract, and this straightforward first step often results in payment.  It also opens the door for us to represent you in negotiations with the goal of resolving the issue in the shortest possible timeframe and with the least amount of expense. 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 most expedient way to resolve any form of business to business dispute.

We work to fulfill our customer’s objectives, and to preserve valuable relationships when necessary.  Our unique approach to these cases is designed to resolve the case whenever possible through negotiation or a structured environment such as mediation or arbitration.  When necessary, we are prepared to litigate the failure to pay breach of contract matter in Court.

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? Secondly, if you master 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 law was breached, you can understand the case, the way a litigator 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, the chronology of events, and then working it way back to, who breached what and who broke what law.

We are able to resolve 95% of our breach of contract cases by settlement. The parties agree to settle after they get tired of beating each other. But more specifically, we are able to resolve them quickly due to the leverage resulting from our detailed chronology and mastery of associated damages and an offer of settlement negotiations. That’s the first way. And then it can be very helpful to consider mediation settlement conferences. This is where you go to a third party and you literally sit in different rooms while one experienced judge goes back and forth and says, ‘what about this? What about that? What about this?’ until you can try to make a meeting of the minds. And that judge will tell you practical things about what you’re doing, how you’re wasting your life and litigation and how you could just resolve this and probably come out more ahead than if you went to court.

And there’s also arbitrations. A lot of contracts have an arbitration clause and there’s been a lot of bad press in the media, but they are valuable. You got your matter decided in a year, year and a half. And it costs half as much money. And finally going to trial. If you’ve got to go to trial, then you should be preparing for, and as I’ve said, a hundred times, you should be preparing for your trial thinking about damages, whether you are the one who who’s alleged to have caused them or not. That’s what you’re there for. So put a lot of your focus on whether someone was damaged and then you know who will probably be more successful.” – Dan Watkins, Founding Partner

If you are concerned about a large payment that is overdue or 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.  Together, we will work to resolve the issue and to secure payment for the goods and services that you’ve provided.