Contract Disputes

Breach of Contract and Florida Contract Litigation for Businesses, Partners, and LLC’s

Contracts, whether or oral or written, are the foundation of our society and economy. Contracts govern nearly every aspect of our daily lives.

A contract is simply a legally binding agreement. When a contract is breached, the law gives courts the power to remedy the breach in several ways, depending on the circumstances.

One remedy for a breach is to declare the contract terminated and excuse the innocent party from further performance. In addition, the court may also award money damages for breach of contract, by determining what benefits were due to the innocent party if the contract had been performed.

Alternatively, the court may require that both parties carry out the specific terms of the contract (such as by requiring that a specific piece of real estate be transferred to the buyer in exchange for payment of the agreed price).

In other cases, the court may decline to enforce the contract because there is a valid defense to it. For example, the party who is suing for breach may not be innocent at all, but actually breached the contract first. Other examples arise when a contract is itself illegal (such as a contract to pay an illegal gambling debt), when an otherwise-valid contract becomes impossible to perform due an act of God, or when enforcement would violate Florida’s public policy.

Contracts often contain important provisions governing the applicable law, the place where a lawsuit may be brought, and the payment of attorneys’ fees by the losing party. For example, contracting parties may choose to have their relationship governed by Florida law or the law of some other jurisdiction. The parties may have agreed that a litigation may only be brought in a specific place. Alternatively, the parties may have agreed to resolve their disputes exclusively in a private arbitration proceeding instead of publicly in a court of law.

Anyone involved a dispute over the terms, performance, or breach of a contract, should seek the advice of an experienced business litigation attorney.