Contract disputes and how to avoid them – Part 4

This post is the fourth in an 6 part series on contract disputes. If you haven’t already read parts 1, 2, and 3, I recommend you do before continuing.

Anticipatory breach or repudiation (continued)

If you receive a notice of anticipatory breach of contract because of a claim of material breach against you, you’ve got a contract dispute. If you intended to repudiate the contract, then it’s probably time to retain a good contract law attorney, if you haven’t already. If you did not intend to repudiate the contract, it may not be too late. Typically, repudiation can be reversed so long as the non-breaching party has not undergone a material change in circumstances. It is still a good idea to get a lawyer to take a look at your case, though.

Defenses to a breach of contract claim

Most defenses to a claim of breach of contract are what are known as affirmative defenses. This means that the party presenting the defense (in this case, the breaching party who’s being sued) has the duty to prove the defense.

Let’s take a look at some common affirmative defenses used in court cases involving contract disputes:

• The contract is indefinite – if the breaching party claims that the contract is indefinite, it means that the details are unclear, such as the period of time the contract is supposed to cover, what the specific duties of the parties are, or that the parties even agreed to the final contract in the first place.
• The contract wasn’t in writing – as we discussed in part 1, certain types of agreements have to be in writing due to the Statute of Frauds.

Check back soon for All about contract disputes – including how to avoid them, part 5. In the meantime, check out our page on contract disputes.