When you enter a contract, you expect the other party to hold their end of the deal. After all, no one gets into a legally binding agreement with an eye on breaching it. However, the other party may fail to deliver as agreed for various reasons, and it might end up hurting your business.
What remedies are available for you in case of a breach? Well, the remedies vary according to the circumstances of the case and depend on various things, such as the terms of the contract or the nature of the breach. The possible remedies include:
Compensatory damages
Monetary compensation is perhaps the most common remedy. It is arrived at based on the losses you suffered due to the breach of contract, directly or indirectly. Compensatory damages are meant to put you in the financial position you would have been in had the breach not occurred.
Specific performance
If the compensatory damages can’t adequately compensate you or your losses cannot be easily quantified, the court may order specific performance against the breaching party. With that, they have to perform a particular task as ordered by the court, which in most cases is delivering on their contractual obligations.
Injunction
Similar to specific performance orders, the court may also order the breaching party not to act in a way that breaches the contract. Injunctions are usually issued pending litigation to prevent further damage.
Recission
As the non-breaching party, a possible remedy for you is to cancel the contract if the breach is substantial. Recission allows you to render the contract null and void, which means that its terms no longer bind you.
As a business owner, it is essential to be aware of these and other possible remedies in case of a breach of contract. It is a position many businesses find themselves in, and in your best interests, you should be well prepared to take action in case it happens to you.
