For one to establish a breach of contract, the plaintiff needs to show four elements. Without a valid or perhaps, an enforceable contract, you will not be able to establish a claim of agreement.
In this article, these elements will be discussed in detail and help you select a better breach of contract claim in such an event.
These elements include:
- The existence of the contract
- Argument for nonperformance
- Failure to carry out the contract by the defendant and,
- The resulting loss or damage to the plaintiff.
These elements are factors involved in the violation of a contract and come with repercussions when one of the parties defaults. This contract could be employment, sales, tenancy, service provision, and lots more. For a deal to be valid, it must be enforceable by the courts.
Proving The Contract Exists
All contract has three major components:
- Offer
- Acceptance and,
- Consideration
Before the start of any contract, there has to be a sort of offer, in which the other party has to accept by signing his signature. The consideration component entails that both parties receive something of value, no matter how small the value is. However, considerations can be receives or given up, just like when someone pays you not to do something.
What About Defenses?
The best defense to a breach of contract is to argue that you didn’t breach any agreement. That might sound too simple, it is. However, every case I different, but one thing that is often common is the parties agreeing a contract exists.
Think of a contract for home construction. The homeowner might sue the builder for some construction defects. The best defense is there are no construction defects. Another way is to argue that the damage is minimal or nonexistent.
If none of these defenses fail to pull through, then you can use one of the most formidable defenses in the event of a breach of contract. It is commonly known as the Statute of limitations.
The Statute Of Limitations
This tool is a doctrine used to bar claims, including breach of the contract, till a certain amount of time has passed. In some states in the US, the time is usually around three years, like Colorado’s case. You should have an attorney to confirm if the Statute of limitation is effective.
There are numerous ways to go around a breach of contract, but you have to make sure you aren’t complicating your case. You need always to be ahead of your plaintiff, which means hiring an experienced attorney who is versed in this kind of legal suit.
Conclusion
Breach of contact happens a lot more often than you may imagine. With experienced legal counsel, you should be able to diffuse the situation and eventually come to a mutual agreement with your partner. But if you’re on the receiving end, getting your attorney on board will be the right call.
Contact Lamb, Carroll, Papp and Cunabaugh, P.C., Attorneys at Law today for legal help.