Common Reasons Why a Business May be Accused of Breach of Contract
It is common in every aspect of an agreement for there to be misconceptions about an agreement. The greater majority of time resolving these issues and frustrations comes before an agreement is verbalized and recorded in the planning stage of a contract. Mitigating the misunderstandings prior to any contractual agreement beforehand is the best practice, but is far from perfect. Even with the greatest wordsmithing efforts, it is human to miscommunicate, and oftentimes that leads to an imbalance of expectations and or results. These errors can then displease one party and lead to claims for the breaching of a contract. There are several reasons why a business might be accused of a breach of contract, which we will be exploring.
What Is The Breaching Of A Contract?
A breach of contract is simply the violation of some contractual or agreed obligation. A contract may be breached if an entity refuses to accept or acknowledge an agreed promise, fails to perform a promise, or is found to be interfering with another party’s performance. So, simply put, when there is a failure to hold up a part of an agreement, there is room for a claim to be made that there has been a breach of contract.
TYPES OF BREACH OF CONTRACT
A business may be accused of a breach of contract for a few different reasons. In any case, as established prior, a breach of contract is a claim made that part of an agreement has remained unfulfilled. There are three main types of breach of contract which a business might find itself dealing with.
A partial breach of contract is one form of breach accusation. For example, a business might offer a tennis ball of a certain size and shape and color, but deliver a different color than ordered. There has been a breach, but it is minor and partial, not affecting the quality of the agreement, and typically easily remedied. Another example is a delay in delivery of goods or service, a delay may be permissible, but any losses would have to be accounted for by the breaching party.
Material breaches are what come to mind most often for breaches of contract. This is a much clearer failure to uphold an agreement. This time, instead of tennis balls of a different color, perhaps the tennis balls were too large, too small, came damaged, or weren’t at all the product asked for.
Anticipatory breaches are anticipatory in the sense that there is an early indication that a contract may not or will not be fulfilled. For a business, this may come in the form of informing a customer that the tennis balls they ordered will not be delivered or will not be made following a pre-existing agreement.
DO YOU HAVE QUESTIONS REGARDING A BREACH OF CONTRACT?
Business negotiations often go smoothly, but are not immune to disagreements and disputes. There are a host of reasons a business might be accused of a breach of contract, but there are options for you if your business faces a breach of contract accusation or if someone has breached their contract with you. Our staff is prepared to help assist and guide you through any questions you may have regarding breaches of contract. At King & Jones, our Chicago breach of contract attorneys care about your business and your success. Please do not hesitate to visit online or call 312-372-4142 today to schedule a free consultation to discuss your case.
Resources
hbr.org/2019/09/a-new-approach-to-contracts
jec.unm.edu/education/online-training/contract-law-tutorial/breach-of-contract