What is Specific Performance and When Do You Get It?
In almost every case, when someone breaches a contract, the issue is money. Specifically, how much money is someone owed, as a measure of the damages, because of the breach of contract. There are a number of ways to calculate damages but at the end of the day, it’s about money.
What About Performance?
We don’t often compel someone to perform under a contract (other than compelling them to pay the amount of money that’s owed because of the breach). There are a number of reasons for this.
Compelling someone to perform under the contract may violate the 13th amendment; you can’t compel someone to work or to do something that they don’t want to do, as a violation of their freedom and their individual liberty.
When Can Specific Performance be Awarded?
But there are very specific cases where someone asks for what is known as specific performance. Specific performance is when instead of money, a court orders someone to do something that they were supposed to do, under a contract.
Real Estate – Specific performance is most often used in real estate disputes. The specific performance, if ordered by the court, would require that a party actually sell or transfer real estate to the other party. This is because land is very specific, and money is not often a sufficient substitute for a specific piece of property that someone contracted to purchase.
Usually to get specific performance, you have to show a court that simply being paid money would not be adequate or sufficient. So again in the sale of real estate, money can’t replace the value or uniqueness of a piece of property.
Business Transfers – Specific performance may be used to compel someone to hand over a portion of a business. For example, if there is a dispute about ownership, or if someone was wrongfully denied their shareholders’ interest in property, or if there was a business deal to sell an interest in the business that went bad, the court could conceivably order a party to comply with the terms of any agreement or contract, that may have obligated them to hand over a portion, percentage, shares, or ownership of a business.
Unique Property – Specific performance may also be used to compel the turnover of other unique property, like artwork, family heirlooms, or an antique of some kind.
Again, this is because simple money is not an adequate replacement for the uniqueness of a business—someone who sues in this situation doesn’t want money, they want the business itself.
Often, the court can compel ownership changes by simply entering a judgement, and then, the party in favor of who the judgment was entered, can file the judgment in the public records, to demonstrate the change in ownership of the business or of real property.
Let the West Palm Beach commercial litigation attorneys at Pike & Lustig help you with your breach of contract case.
Source:
openyls.law.yale.edu/handle/20.500.13051/310
