Warren Gammill & Associates, P.L.
  • Home
  • Firm Overview
    • Warren P. Gammill
    • Jordan M. Krassner
  • Practice Areas
    • Business Litigation
    • Usury
    • Real Estate Litigation
    • Deed And Probate Litigation
    • Appeals
    • Commercial Landlord-Tenant
    • Contract Litigation
    • Fraud
    • Legal & Professional Malpractice
  • Blog
  • Contact
Select Page

Understanding breach of contract and specific performance

On behalf of Warren Gammill & Associates, P.L. | Feb 16, 2018 | Contract Disputes

If you have a contract with someone, you expect them to fulfill it.

If they don’t, you have several different options. You can choose to let the other party out of the contract, renegotiate for a new contract that you can both live with or demand a legal solution. One of those potential solutions is called specific performance — and it’s what you generally seek if you want the court to enforce the terms of the contract.

Of course, like most legal issues, it isn’t quite that simple.

Specific performance is not usually a preferred remedy. It’s generally less favored than paying money to compensate someone’s losses for the broken contract. However, there are times when it’s considered the only fair solution because money wouldn’t serve to make the damaged party “whole” — putting him or her back in the same basic position as before the contract was breached.

In real estate, for example, sellers sometimes try to back out of a deal. If they’re lucky, the buyer may just accept any earnest money they put down back and repayment for any expenses they incurred — like a home inspection. However, most buyers will want the house sale to go through and may demand that the court enforce the agreed-upon sale.

Any unique item could become the subject of a lawsuit demanding specific performance of a contract, not just houses. For example, imagine that you signed a contract to purchase an estate’s collection of fine art. Then, one of the heirs decides that he or she doesn’t want to part with some pieces. Because the pieces are unique, money can’t adequately compensate you for the paintings that you were promised. You can ask the court to enforce the sale.

On the other hand, you generally can’t force someone into specific performance in a service contract. That would brush up against the Constitutional amendment prohibiting involuntary servitude.

For example, imagine that you hire a cleaning company but the cleaner later balks at the task and refuses to do it. The court wouldn’t enforce the contract. Instead, you would have to determine what financial loss you incurred because of the breach of contract — such as the difference between what the breaching cleaner was supposed to charge and the cost you eventually had to pay — and ask the court for that instead.

Source: FindLaw, “Breach of Contract and Lawsuits,” accessed Feb. 16, 2018

Recent Posts

  • Common types of business contract disputes
  • Why do business partnerships fail?
  • Business litigation and common business torts
  • Know how to identify fraudulent misrepresentation
  • Lawsuit accuses developer of violating condo rules and profiting

Archives

Categories

  • Business Litigation
  • Business Torts
  • Commercial Real Estate
  • Construction Litigation
  • Contract Disputes
  • Firm News
  • Legal Malpractice
  • Uncategorized
  • Workers' Compensation

RSS Feed

Subscribe To This Blog’s Feed

FindLaw Network
Warren Gammill & Associates, P.L. Logo

p  | 305-579-0000

f    | 305-371-6927

Contact Us

Courthouse Plaza
28 West Flagler St Suite 400
Miami, FL 33130

Map & Directions

Social Media

  • Follow
Review Us

Schedule Your Free Initial Consultation

© 2021 Warren Gammill & Associates, P.L.. All Rights Reserved.

Disclaimer | Site Map | Privacy Policy | Business Development Solutions by FindLaw, part of Thomson Reuters