Nobody wants to get embroiled in a contract dispute. It is essential that when entering into any contract the correct advice is obtained to minimise any damage to you or your business. The contract itself should be clear an unambiguous as this will make it easier for the injured party to seek redress if the need arises.
A contract dispute arises when one party believes that the other has not adhered to some or all of the obligations set out and agreed between the parties. This can involve a failure or refusal to pay on the grounds that one party has failed to perform its obligations by supplying defective or incomplete goods or services.
If the terms of a contract are broken this is known as a breach of contract. Various remedies are available but the most common are:
1 - Damages – an award of damages is the usual remedy. The purpose of damages is to put the injured party into the same financial position they would have been in had the contract been performed correctly.
2 - An order will be made by the court requiring a party to perform a positive contract obligation, that is to do something that should have been done under the contract itself).
3 - Injunctions – this is a court order requiring a party to take specific steps or restraining them from certain activities. An example would be to prevent them from contacting a customer or supplier or from publishing a false or defamatory comment.
4 - Recission – this is setting aside a contract where the parties are put back into the position they were before the contract was made. This may be available where the contract was agreed as a result of misrepresentation, mistake, duress or undue influence.
5 - Rectification – this only applies to written contracts and its main purpose is to put right a genuine mistake made between orally agreeing terms and recording those terms into a written contract.
We can offer expert advice in both drafting contracts in an effort to protect you from pitfalls at a later stage and dealing with any disputes that arise as a result of a breach that has occurred.
Summerfield Browne have offices in Leicester, Birmingham, London, Oxford, Cambridge and Market Harborough and assist with cases all over the UK.
