Contracts provide a pathway for all parties involved to proceed in a specific matter. For business partnerships, contracts are the lifeblood of the business as they provide legal clarity and backing to the manner by which partners act. In real estate, contracts help move a transaction toward the finish line for a piece of real estate to transfer to the right Oklahoma family or business.
Strong contracts protect the individuals and organizations that are party to the terms of the deal. Sometimes, however, those parties fail to uphold their end which can lead to litigation or other ramifications nobody wants.
There are more ways to remedy a breach of contract than just getting in a courtroom and our team can help you navigate these solutions.
Write Remedies Into the Contract
One of the surest ways to quickly resolve a breach of contract dispute will be to rely on the language of the contract itself. Your contracts shouldn’t just account for what will happen if the terms of the deal are met but also what happens if the terms of the deal are not met.
Contract language that specifies what happens when either party breaches the contract allows you to have a legally-binding agreement in place when this happens. For instance, in a real estate contract if there are deadlines set that certain payments must be made but the buyer fails to hit that deadline then there may be a certain fee or interest accrual written into the deal. This serves both sides because the seller gets more money for the inconvenience and the buyer has the incentive to make payments on time without risking a collapsed deal if a single payment is missed.
Pay Mutually-Agreed Upon Damages
If you don’t have language in the contract, the parties may be able to negotiate how much value has been lost due to the breach. Or Oklahoma law may set the standard. This is exactly what takes place in the courtroom during litigation, but there is nothing (unless it’s written in your contract) that says both parties can’t work together to determine such a cost.
An example of this would be in a business partnership dispute where one partner fails to uphold their duties which costs the company a contract with a client. The company’s loss here is the total value of the deal with that client, but a more reasonable approach may be to agree to have the partner pay a portion of the damages or, in cases of repeated breaches, sell their share of the company back to other partners.
Perform Duties to Overcome the Breach
If a contract is related to goods and services but those goods and services were not delivered according to the contract, you always have the option of having the party in breach carry out other performance obligations to make up for the issue.
In the event of a vendor failing to deliver a product, they may have other products they can deliver in its place that make up for the loss. If a contractor fails to fulfill a stage of a project on time, they may be able to provide services in another area that helps the business move forward without incurring additional costs to either party.
Terminate the Contract and Pursue Litigation
Each of the above options gives both parties an opportunity to settle the issue outside of the courtroom, but that’s not always possible. In some cases, the contract will need to be terminated in the courtroom and the costs associated with such a decision must be addressed.
The courts will need to hear from both sides and give careful consideration to just how much the breach of contract is costing the other party. This could result in millions of dollars in damages owed to the victimized party, so it’s important to adhere to contract guidelines whenever possible and to attempt to settle these issues before it ever reaches that point.
Contact an AttorneyAt Pence Law Firm, we handle business litigation which often means navigating the terms of contracts and handling negotiations in the event of a breach of contract. Whether you are pursuing another party for breach of contract or have been accused of a breach of contract yourself and need representation in Oklahoma, contact our firm right away and make sure you have the representation you deserve. We pride ourselves on helping clients protect what they have grown.