Are you wondering how to manage the failure to perform on a contract in California?  What happens when a supplier, vendor or customer fails to perform on a business contract?  Failure to perform is a breach of contract, and can result in expensive and time-consuming business litigation.  This may not be in your best business interests, but what other options are available to you?  The experienced breach of contract attorneys at the Watkins Firm have decades of experience and expertise in these matters.  The first step is to identify your goals and objectives for the situation.  Once these are clearly defined, our attorneys work to employ effective and leveraged negotiation and mediation skills to resolve the dispute.

Failure to perform on a contract can leave the liable party responsible for the resulting damages caused to your company.  What are damages?  Financial damages are based upon several factors such as the financial measure of the loss of opportunity as a result of the failure to perform, and any additional expense required to find another supplier or vendor, or to achieve the “benefit of the bargain” you expected to receive from the original agreement.

However, if you are the victim of a material breach in a business contract you are required by law to mitigate your losses or you may forfeit part or all of your recourse against the party who failed to perform.  There are several viable defenses for breach of contract.  Both parties should seek the advice and counsel of experienced, proven business contract attorneys.

The Watkins Firm has more than 40 years of experience helping to resolve the failure to perform on a contract in California.  You will be pleased to learn we are able to resolve the vast majority of these disputes through effective, leveraged negotiation.  This is the fastest, least expensive path to resolve a failure to perform breach of contract. Business mediation and settlement conferences are a private, confidential and effective strategy to resolve these disputes.  Many contracts specify arbitration as a venue for resolving disputes that arise out of the agreement.  We can represent you in negotiations, mediation, arbitration, litigation and throughout each step of resolving the underlying contract dispute.

Pro-Tip: “A breach of a contract occurs when someone breaches a material term of the agreement or an immaterial term of the agreement. And you have different remedies for either. An example of an immaterial or minor breach includes the failure to perform most of or part of the contract or an important part of a contract, anything that would render the benefit of the bargain not received.

Then, what’s the difference and what’s the remedy if someone commits a minor breach contract versus a material breach? 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.

So, does that mean that in a material breach, the non-breaching party no longer has to obey the terms of the contract?  This is why you need the sound advice and counsel of at attorney from the Watkins Firm.  The option not to obey the original term(s) of the contract is one of 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 any breach of contract is damages. We are often asked ‘What are damages?’  That’s a great question; it’s actually THE 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.

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.” – Dan Watkins, Founding Partner

If you have been the victim of a failure to perform on a contract in San Diego or have been unable to fulfill the terms of a contractual agreement for some reason 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.