Successfully mediating or settling a breach of contract dispute in San Diego or anywhere in California requires experience, legal skill and effective leverage.  The skilled breach of contract attorneys at the Watkins Firm take a unique approach to disputes which is designed to resolve them quickly and cost-effectively while accomplishing our client’s objectives.  You might be interested to know that the Watkins Firm is able to resolve most of our breach of contract cases through effective, leveraged negotiation.  This is the fastest and least expensive way to accomplish our clients goals and objectives in the matter in an efficient way.

It is not usually in the interest of either party for a breach of contract dispute to be placed before the Court.  The process itself can take much more than a year, and the realities of business need, contingent liability and expense usually preclude this legal option.  Watkins Firm attorneys have more than four decades of experience successfully resolving these disputes.  Breach of contract cases are often the result of an unforeseen complication, market development, illness or other labor challenge or unclear contractual terms and expectations.

Our attorneys work to quickly, thoroughly and accurately document the chronology of events in the matter, as well as assess the potential damages associated with mediating or settling a breach of contract dispute.  Each party in a breach of contract case has legal obligations under the law.  The party who is responsible for the breach is exposed to the damages associated with the failure to deliver the “benefit of the bargain” anticipated in the underlying contract.  They are also responsible for any additional expenses and costs associated with finding another vendor or contract partner to deliver upon the original promises.

The party who is the victim of the breach also has an obligation to take swift, prudent and reasonable action to reduce the impact of the breach.  This is known as “mitigating the damages” and the failure to take action can limit or remove all legal recourse associated with the breach.

Mediating or settling a breach of contract dispute in San Diego or anywhere in California often requires the negotiation of a modification to the original agreement, referred to as a “settlement.”  Watkins Firm attorneys work to quickly resolve the underlying issues, find common ground and negotiate a resolution which allows the parties to complete their contractual obligations while providing just compensation for the original breach when necessary.

Pro-Tip: “When I advise my clients, I tell them the most important item in a breach of contract, or any dispute, 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.

In most cases, 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. 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 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, and then working it way back to who breached what and who broke what law.

If you’re the party that’s caused the breach, part of your immediate goal is to minimize the risk of the damages downstream. However, it’s even more complicated and deeper than that. You don’t have to decide whether you are the person that breached (for most people, their ego won’t let them do that). But if you’re being accused of breaching, the first thing you and your lawyer should talk about or think about is how much are the damages they saying that I caused and how can I with very little expense limit those damages?” – Dan Watkins, Founding Partner

If you are concerned about a breach of contract dispute 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 to learn more about how the Watkins Firm can help to resolve the challenges in front of you so that you may focus upon your business and other opportunities at hand.