Common Questions When A Vendor Breaches Their Contract

Are you in a situation where you are working with a vendor for your business that has breached their contract, and now you're wondering what to do? It will help to have a corporate lawyer on your side to help you out in this legal situation. Here are some questions you'll likely have for your lawyer as they work on your case. 

Does It Matter If It Is An Oral Or Written Contract?

Every contract is not always written out formally. Sometimes there are oral contracts as well that companies use to do business. With oral contracts, it is important to see if there is any documentation that can help to prove there was an oral contract. This includes witnesses to the agreement, email conversations that discuss the oral contract, or phone records that discuss the contract. The more evidence you have to prove it was an oral contract will help prove your case. 

Have You Complied With Your End Of The Contract?

It's not just enough for your vendor to breach their contract and try and go after them to see compensation. It's very important to review the contract to ensure that you have fulfilled all of your obligations as part of the contract. For example, if you have missed a window for payment, this could be something that the vendor can use to justify not fulfilling their end of the contract. Having clear responsibilities in the contract is going to result in proving you fulfilled those responsibilities quite easily. Problems come up when responsibilities are not clearly defined and it is questionable what each person is supposed to do.

How Exactly Was The Contract Breached? 

Once you know that you've fulfilled your part of the contract, you must clearly be able to define how the contract was breached. Not fulfilling an order is something that is very easy to identify. However, it becomes much more complicated when you are saying that the quality of the work done doesn't meet your expectations. Can the quality be measured, and is quality defined as part of the contract? 

What Are Your Losses As A Result Of The Contract Breach?

Now that you've shown that the contract was breached, you need to determine how to quantify your losses that happened as a result. Order fulfillment is a very easy one to quantify since you have a lost sale that was canceled and is very easy to prove. It gets much more difficult when you are trying to sue for other losses that are not easily quantifiable. Things like consequences damages are something that a lawyer can help you determine as part of the lawsuit. 

Contact a corporate law firm in your area for more information.  

Share