Mistakes You Shouldn’t Make, Even if You Didn’t Breach a Contract

Lets say there is a contract and the other side breached or is breaching the agreement. Seems to be a pretty open and shut case. But you’d be surprised how easy it is for a non-breaching party to make crucial mistakes that could risk being able to sue or recover in a subsequent breach of contract case.

Don’t be the business or person that abides by a contract but ends up with the short end of the stick because you did or said things that damaged your breach of contract case.

Watch Your Anger

One large problem that many people have is temper; they are angry over a breach or perceived breach, and that anger causes them to do or say things that they shouldn’t.

Remember that your texts and emails and other digital communication is potential evidence that a judge or jury may someday see. Even if you’re technically and legally in the right, you don’t want to have a nasty, hostile or offensive email read to a judge or jury.

Worse, you could say things in your anger that could legally risk your right to recover damages later on. The best bet is either to have your attorney handle these kinds of communications, or to stop, take a breath, and calm down a bit, before responding.

Mitigating Your Damages

As a general rule, there is no overriding responsibility to mitigate (or minimize) your contractual damages. That means you don’t have to take any action to lower or lessen your losses after a breach of contract unless the contract specifically says so.

That said, it’s a good idea to do it, and the other side will almost always use that as a defense against you. Whatever you can do within reason to minimize your losses, you should do, to the extent possible, and to the extent it doesn’t cost you more money than it saves. It will make you look much better in front of a judge and jury later on.

Working Out Resolutions

It’s hard to tell people “don’t work legal problems out amicably,” and that’s not exactly what we’re saying. Just be careful if you work out an informal settlement to a contractual dispute on your own.

That’s because you could inadvertently end up waiving legal remedies you might otherwise have if there are further, ongoing breaches.

So, if you agree that someone has another 30 days to make a payment, that agreement could alter your original contract, or even your right to go to court and sue. Saying “you can just pay me $100” may limit your ability to ever recover more than that amount later on.

If you want to resolve an amount out of court, there are ways to do it using the proper language, that allow you to resolve the claim peacefully, but which still preserve your legal rights for later on.

Course of Conduct Post-Breach

It’s easy to just overlook or ignore contractual breaches, especially if they aren’t causing you direct harm, and especially if you’re trying to be “easy to work with,” or amicable. Those are great things and have a lot of benefits. But be careful, because the way you act towards the other side post-contractual breach can end up modifying the otherwise explicit terms of the agreement.

Breach of contract case? Call our West Palm Beach commercial litigation lawyers at Pike & Lustig to help you.

Sources:

equipforequality.org/resource/mitigate-damages-2/

cobrief.app/resources/legal-glossary/waiver-of-claims-overview-definition-and-example/