Are you searching for a California and San Diego breach of contract defense attorney to provide sound counsel regarding a potential breach of contract lawsuit?  What should you do if you know you can’t fulfill the terms of a contract your business has entered into?

Key takeaways regarding a California and San Diego Breach of Contract Defense Attorney:

• a breach of contract in California occurs when one of the parties fails to fulfill the term(s) within a given contract, and the other party is denied the “benefit of the bargain.”
• Each party has responsibilities during a contract breach.  The “victim” of the breach must take steps to mitigate the damages or they limit their recovery options.  The goal of defending a breach of contract is to mitigate or remediate potential damages altogether, while negotiating a way through the dispute or settlement terms.
• Breach of contract cases are quite legally and financially complex.  In most business cases, the only remedy is financial damages.  However, an experienced California and San Diego breach of contract defense attorney can make a significant contribution to a successful outcome, especially when brought in at the outset of the dispute.

What is a Breach of Contract

The failure to fulfill a contractual agreement per the terms of the contract is known legally as a breach of contract.  Contracts are based upon the “benefit of the bargain,” which is essentially what each party expects to receive or gain based upon successful completion of the contract itself.  When one of the parties fails to complete their responsibilities under the terms of the contract or to deliver goods and/or services on time a breach of contract may result.

Breach of contract can be either a minor breach, material breach, anticipatory breach or an actual breach, and often leads to a lawsuit between the parties and the potential for damage to a previously successful business relationship.  What action should you take?

You Need an Experienced California and San Diego Breach of Contract Defense Attorney

Why do you need an experienced California and San Diego breach of contract defense attorney?  Defending a potential breach of contract requires extensive legal skill and experience, as well as business savvy and an understanding of the nature and importance of business relationships.  The experienced contract dispute and litigation defense attorneys at the Watkins Firm have more than four decades of experience in these matters.

Your Watkins Firm attorney will work to quickly and efficiently create a thoroughly documented chronology of events and a mastery of potential damages.  These are the tools we use to draw opposing parties and their counsel into effective, leveraged negotiations.  The good news in breach of contract defense cases is this: Watkins Firm is able to negotiate a positive resolution in the majority of these cases that resolves the dispute quickly and cost-effectively.  This is the fastest, least expensive path to resolve any breach of contract case.

The legal remedy for a breach of contract will be financial, and therefore a breach of contract dispute is all about the “damages.”  Damages are the cost for the victim of the breach to achieve the original benefit of the bargain contained within the agreement.

We work to minimize potential damages, and to keep the channels of constructive communication between the parties open.  In most cases, our attorneys are able to work with other parties to negotiate a “work-around” or settlement based upon what has transpired.

Some events are outside of your control, and the inability to receive a vital component or to complete work within contract time frames cannot be resolved by simply “working harder or more hours.”  Our unique approach to contract disputes ensures that the issue is resolved as quickly and cost-efficiently as possible, while preserving the valued business relationships that lie beneath the contract itself.

The Responsibility to Mitigate the Damages

The party who is the “victim” of a breach of contract has a responsibility to mitigate the damages that might arise as a result of the breach, and if they fail to do so it can limit or eliminate their ability to come back upon you to recover those losses.  Our attorneys work to keep a productive relationship in place while a resolution can be found and implemented.  We keep your costs down while resolving what could have become an expensive and time consuming business litigation.  This is how an experienced California and San Diego breach of contract defense attorney at the Watkins Firm can help to protect your interests and accomplish your goals for the dispute, while resolving the dispute at hand quickly and efficiently.

Pro-Tip: “Well, 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.

in a material breach, the non-breaching party may no longer have to obey the terms of the contract.  That’s what’s called ‘choice of remedies’ in a material breach. The person who’s been damaged by the breaching party has all kinds of choices they can make. And depending on the kind of contract, the subject matter of contract, whether it’s a real estate contract or a commercial contract, they have the right to choose through a whole list of remedies, including provisional remedies and the list goes on and on. This is as opposed to a minor breach. Whereas your remedies are, are much less.

The primary remedy for a breach of contract is damages. We are often asked ‘what are damages?’ Great question! When I advise my clients, I tell them the most important item in litigation is not whether you are liable or they’re liable, or somebody breached. I say the three most important things in a lawsuit are: ‘damages damages damages.’

And I say, it just like, you know, ‘location, location, location,’ because it’s that important in the type of damages you can obtain are so varied that if you focus on whether you’ve been damaged under the law, there will be a statute or a case that says you are entitled to those damages. So if you track it backwards from I lost a hundred thousand dollars in this deal and how you lost it on those facts and what you did lose, you’ll probably find 99% of the time, a statute or a law or a case or something that gives you a remedy, a right to those damages and how you can collect.

And in most cases, Dan damages are going to be money. Damages are what the law can afford you in a civil case. In a criminal matter, the law can afford you incarceration of the offending criminal, but in a civil matter, and business disputes are a civil matter, since your contract and your agreement was mostly about money, then you get money back. And the only time you don’t just get money is when it’s a case where a law will afford you an injunctive or provisional remedy, which is for unique types of damages and unusual circumstances.” – Dan Watkins, Founding Partner

If you are looking for an experienced, proven San Diego breach of contract defense attorney 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.   Learn more about how we can protect your interests, reduce associated damages and seek a resolution which reflects your goals and objectives.

 

Meet Dan Watkins:

Daniel W. Watkins is a true people person who sincerely listens. He cares about things that occur in other people’s lives. Dan enjoys digging into the facts and finding creative solutions to problems. He is not shy about giving his opinion either.

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 seasoned litigator 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.