Would you be interested to learn what an experienced lawyer for a breach of contract in San Diego or anywhere in California has to say about now to handle your business contract dispute?  The Watkins Firm has more than 40 years of experience with breach of contract business disputes.  We have developed a unique approach to these disputes that is specifically designed to resolve the matter and accomplish our client’s goals and objectives in a timely, cost-efficient manner.

The first step in the process to manage any business-related dispute is to thoroughly  document everything possible in chronological order.  This not only saves your legal team a lot of time (and you a lot of money), it is the first action which must be taken to pursue a breach of contract or defend allegations of a contract breach.

The next thing your experienced lawyer for a breach of contract from the Watkins Firm should explain is the concept of “damages.”  With the rare exception of real estate contracts and a few other instances, here in California one party cannot force the other to complete or perform on a contract.  The impact of a breach of contract will be measured in financial damages that represent the cost of failing to fulfill the contract as agreed and the additional expense of finding another alternative as well as potential legal expenses.  Mastering the chronology of events and resulting damages is the key to any breach of contract dispute.

It is important to note that the victim of a breach of contract must take timely, prudent steps to limit the damages they experience.  The failure to mitigate losses can be used as a defense in a breach of contract case.

Dan Watkins is an experienced lawyer for a breach of contract anywhere in California.  He will help you to understand the differences between a minor breach and a material breach, as well as the steps required to achieve your objectives for the situation at hand.

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 force 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 no longer has 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.

In the end, most breach of contract cases are about financial damages.  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, 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.

Mastering the damages in the cases so important. 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? 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 for, and then working it way back to, uh, who breached what and who broke what law.” – Dan Watkins, Founding Partner

If you are searching for more information about a breach of contract or need the advice and counsel of an experienced lawyer for 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.