In today’s business world, contract disputes and breach of contracts have become far too common. A large number of today’s businesses depend upon contracts in the regular day-to-day operations. That means that when they receive a signed contract from another business or individual, they fully expect them to honor their end of the agreement. When the other party fails to do so this is called a breach of contract. When a customer or client fails to fulfill their side of the contractual agreement, a business can very quickly find themselves in financial danger with notable profit losses and in some cases, additional losses of both company time and resources that were dedicated to the project at hand.
In some cases, the problem is more of a contract dispute than a breach of contract. There can be misunderstandings regarding the terms of the contract or unexpected circumstances pertaining to the job or service. When a breach occurs, it’s very important to remember that quick action may be the only thing that can preserve your rights under the law. According to law in the state of California, and depending upon the type of contract in question, you have two or four years in which to file a lawsuit that could enable you to recover your damages (Four years for written contracts and two years for oral contracts).
If you wish to prevail in a breach of contract case, you will need to be able to prove the following to the Court:
1. That you had either a written or oral contract with the defendant at hand;
2. That the defendant listed in the case broke the agreement or breached the contract;
3. And that your business, or you personally, suffered losses or damages as a result of their breach of contract.
Notes: For a contract to be enforceable you need to be able to establish the existence of three main elements: an offer, acceptance, and consideration. While a breach is any time that one of the parties breaks their contractual agreement, the only time that a breach of contract could be eligible for recovery through a Court of law would be when that breach of contract results in a diminished value on the part of the non-breaching party.
If you have questions regarding breach of contract or contract disputes and how to obtain compensation for damages, get in touch with the southern California business attorneys at The Law Office of the Law Office of Ernesto Aldover.
