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Has failure to perform contract duties cost your company money?

On Behalf of | Aug 2, 2017 | Business Law, Contract Disputes

You work hard to ensure that your company continues to grow and thrive. Many times, expansion and new projects require the assistance of outside professionals. Maybe you need an environmental impact survey completed before you break ground on a new construction project.

Perhaps you required delivery of a certain number of critical components in order to complete manufacturing of products. You found a company or professional able to supply the materials or expertise you required, and you executed a legally binding contract regarding payment and performance.

You have already met your obligations, perhaps by paying a deposit or a retainer. However, the other party has not fulfilled his or her obligations under the contract. You’ve tried talking to the other party, but either aren’t getting an answer or are only getting excuses. Once the deadline in your contract passes, it’s possible that your company could lose a lot of money. You could lose out on sales, have a contract you heavily invested in awarded to someone else or even get stuck paying wages for staff who didn’t have the necessary supplies to complete their work. You may need to fight back by suing.

Breach of contract can negatively impact your business

The initial contract you signed was valid and legal in New York. You quickly and completely fulfilled your obligations, but the other signing party to the contract has failed to do the same. Now your company has to deal with financial losses, as well as time-related setbacks, as a result. You could lose major clients, have a customer decide to source needs elsewhere or even have to lay off workers because of someone else’s failure to uphold a contractual agreement.

The failure of an outside party can also damage your company’s reputation. If you can’t complete a project on time or fulfill an order placed by a customer, that reflects poorly on your business, regardless of the reason why.

The courts can help resolve contract disputes

In some cases, the other party could defend the non-performance of contractual obligations by showing that doing so has become impossible. Other times, issues with fraud or coercion to sign the contract could invalidate it. If none of these situations apply, you may have to ask the court to step in and resolve the issue.

Going to court isn’t an ideal solution. The best outcome, obviously, would be the other party actually fulfilling the contractual obligations. Once it becomes obvious that that can’t or won’t happen, you need to explore your options for recourse. Typically, a civil lawsuit for breach of contract is the simplest way to handle this kind of issue. You will need to show evidence that you performed your obligations under the contract and that the other signer did not.

 

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