What is the key to defending a breach of contract lawsuit in San Diego or anywhere in California?  Why is it important to seek the advice and counsel of the Watkins Firm if you have been accused of a breach of contract?

Defending the assertion of a breach of contract in San Diego will save your business a substantial sum of money, while protecting you from locking up resources to address a contingent liability for several months or even years.  If you have been contacted by a business contract partner, are in the midst of a business dispute or have been served papers in a lawsuit for breach of contract we invite you to contact our experienced business litigation attorneys or call the Watkins Firm for a free and substantive consultation at 858-535-1511.

3 Keys to Know about Defending a Breach of Contract Lawsuit in California

• The core issue in a breach of contract dispute is damages.  Damages are the financial harm that a party has incurred as a result of the failure to perform on the contract.
• The party who is the ‘victim’ of the breach has a responsibility to mitigate the damages – to take reasonable, prudent, and prompt action to limit the impact and associated financial damages.
• Defending a breach of contract requires experience, legal skill, and proven strategies.

Breach of Contract is All About the Damages

Breach of contract cases and all business litigation comes down to a central issue: damages.  A court isn’t going to order a party to fulfill their obligations or uphold their end of the agreement in a business dispute (unless the dispute involves real estate).  The remedy for a breach of contract in the majority of business disputes will be damages (read: money).  Defending a breach of contract lawsuit involves negotiations to resolve issues responsible for the breach, limit damages and reach a resolution that accomplishes our client’s goals and objectives.

The opposing party (the party who claims to be the victim of the contract breach) is required by law to take immediate, effective and prudent steps to mitigate the damages and reduce the costs associated with the breach of contract dispute.  Failure to do so can relieve our clients of part or all of their exposure when defending breach of contract allegations in San Diego.  There are often issues with the contract itself, as well as the communications (written and verbal) that have occurred between the parties.

Defending a Breach of Contract Suit in San Diego Requires Experience and Legal Skill

Defending a breach of contract lawsuit in San Diego or anywhere in California requires an experienced attorney with the skills to protect your company and it’s assets.  The experienced business litigation and breach of contract attorneys at the Watkins Firm will work to help you achieve the best possible outcome in your case.  We take a unique approach to breach of contract disputes which is specifically designed to resolve the dispute in the shortest amount of time and in a cost-effective manner.

Our attorneys work efficiently to create a thoroughly documented chronology of events and a mastery of potential damages.  These tools allow us to draw opposing parties and their counsel into negotiations to work through and ultimately resolve the matter at hand.  Leveraged, effective negotiation is the fastest and most efficient way to resolve a breach of contract dispute. Our skill enables the Watkins Firm to resolve the vast majority of our breach of contract cases through effective, leveraged negotiations.  If a lawsuit is filed, defending our client in a breach of contract case often involves mediation or arbitration.

Mediation in a Breach of Contract

Usually, if a lawsuit has been filed the next step is a settlement conference or mediation.  Mediation provides the protection of confidentiality for our clients.  What happens in mediation literally stays in mediation.  Important facts and revelations which might be harmful to a business reputation are kept out of the public record in the privacy of mediation.  This is the next most likely scenario for resolving a breach of contract dispute.

Your contract may specify arbitration as an alternative to taking the case before the Court.  Our skilled trial attorneys provide strong representation and sound advice and counsel at each step of the process.  We are prepared to take the case to trial if necessary, but we are able to resolve the vast majority of these cases through effective, leveraged negotiation or mediation.

Pro-Tip: “What is mitigating the damages, and when do you have to do it?  Mitigating the damages is an obligation under the law for those who are the victims of a breach of contract. A lot of people get hurt or damaged by someone who breaches a contract. And then they go with this attitude that, well, since the other party breached, they owe, and the party who didn’t breach doesn’t try to mitigate their damages. I mean, doing things that would make them not suffer as much from the breach of contract or other types of causes of action. And what happens in the law is a judge or a jury will hear what you did (or didn’t do) and you’ll think you’re gonna get $300,000 in trial. But the Judge or jury will decide that you failed to perform your obligation, to do everything you could to lessen the amount of damages you suffered.  And you get very little, if anything at all.

A huge majority of our Watkins Firm breach of contract cases are resolved by settlement, through effective, leveraged negotiation. The parties agree to settle after they get tired of beating each other. But more specifically the offers, an offer of settlement negotiations. That’s the first way. And then mediation settlement conferences, where you go to a third party and you literally sit in different rooms, are very helpful. While one experienced judge goes back and forth and say is, 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 can’t go to court for three years, but you had an arbitration clause. 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, you know, whether someone was damaged and then you know who will probably be more successful.” – Dan Watkins, Founding Partner

Are you concerned about defending a breach of contract lawsuit in San Diego or anywhere throughout the State of California?  You need a proven legal partner with decades of experience, a proven track record in trial and the legal skill to protect your interests while achieving the best possible outcome in your case.  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.