Accused of Breach of Contract During the Pandemic? Here’s What to do Next
The pandemic has wrought everyone with issues that have amounted to new stresses financially, physically, and mentally. As businesses are composed of the people that make them up, it is to no surprise that many operations have found new struggles and adversities amidst so much new disorder. Following such disorders, there is greater room for error or failure to fulfill obligations, duties, and contracts as a business. The result may come in the form of new breach of contract accusations that a business might have not experienced before or is newly struggling with. Rest assured that in any case, there are options for your business during this time of uncertainty.
A Quick Rundown On Breach Of Contract
To understand what to do next, one must first understand what a breach of contract is. A breach of contract is, simply put, a failure to fulfill a part of an agreement between parties. This may come in the form of refusing to acknowledge a promise, failure to deliver or perform a promise, or causing interference with another party’s performance.
It is important to understand a basic notion of the major types of breaches of contract, as well. Certain types of breaches of contract accusations may be easier to deal with, all varying on their complexity or severity.
Partial (or minor breaches) of contract are rather simple. These are breaches of contract in which there is a definitive breach of contract, but the breaches are minimal or negligible. These are usually remedied easily. An easy example is delivering a red lamp when a customer ordered a yellow lamp. Or further still, delivering the wrong height of lamp.
Material breaches of contract are almost always associated with some kind of damage a party takes due to the failure to complete a contract. Take for example again some lamps, and this time deliver the wrong bulb, destroying the bulb, the lamp, or starting a fire. This would lead to damages the business could potentially have to burden.
Finally, there are anticipatory breaches of contract. These are contracts where the breach is indicated by other factors that would lead up to an anticipated breach of contract. Say a company needs lamps to be operational, but the business cannot complete the order by the agreed date. If there were any losses, the business may have to pay damages on top of having the contract terminated.
OPTIONS FOR BREACH OF CONTRACT DURING PANDEMIC
Certain circumstances for defending breaches of contract already exist, and may work in your favor when dealing with breach of contract accusations. However, due to the unexpected and very volatile conditions and circumstances regarding the current pandemic, force majeure clauses might work to aid defense of breach of contract accusations. Force majeure simply works to protect extreme circumstances beyond conventional control, in this case, a novel pandemic.
The best option is to see an attorney that can help answer your questions regarding your specific needs, and whether or not these Force Majeure clauses can work to help your business from struggle.
DO YOU HAVE BREACH OF CONTRACT RELATED QUESTIONS? LET US HELP
At King & Jones, our Chicago breach of contract attorneys understand that these uncertain times have bought out the toughest challenges for citizens and their businesses. Allow us to answer any questions you may have about a breach of contract during these trying times by giving our team of business law attorneys a call at 312-372-4142 today. We can help you schedule a free, no-risk consultation to discuss your case further.
Resources
govinfo.gov/app/details/USCODE-2011-title41/USCODE-2011-title41-subtitleII-chap65-sec6503
americanbar.org/groups/litigation/committees/commercial-business/articles/2020/is-the-force-majeure-with-you-coronavirus-contracts/