If someone breaches a contract with you or your company, you deserve justice.

Fortunately, there are a number of potential remedies for breach of contract. These can range

from enforcing the terms of the contract to monetary compensation.

If you or your business is facing a contract dispute, the knowledgeable commercial litigation

attorneys at the Miller Law Firm can help. We can review your contract and help you pursue a

remedy for breach of contract that will best compensate you for the breach.
Breach Of Contract Topics Covered Here hide
Types of Remedies for Breach of Contract
1. Compensatory Damages
2. Specific Performance
3. Injunction
4. Rescission
5. Liquidated Damages
6. Nominal Damages
The Miller Law Firm: Your Contract Attorneys
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Types of Remedies for Breach of Contract

There are several common remedies for breach of contracts. The appropriate remedy depends on

the terms of the contract, the nature of the breach, and the specific circumstances of the case.

Breach of Contract
A breach of contract occurs when one of the parties of the contract do not abide by the terms of
the contract. The breach in a contract happens even when there is a failure in the performance of
the contract. But such breach of contract comes with some remedies which provide the aggrieved
party for the damages. This article deals with the breach of a contract, its types and the remedies for
breach of contract.

Types of Breach of Contract

The breach of contract is of two types. The following are its types:
Anticipatory
Anticipation by one of the parties is the anticipatory breach. The breach will occur either expressly or
through conduct. The party will intimate eventually that he or she is going to commit a breach. The
aggrieved party will not have sufficient in the loss if there is compensation and if he waits for the
actual breach.

Illustration: In the Hochster v. De La Tour, it was decided that if there is a rejection of the contract
before the performance, then claim for the damages can be made. In accordance with that, De la
Tour agrees to employ Hochster as their for 3 months. De La Tour appoints Hochster in April to start
work from June. But De La Tour withdraws the appointment by May. Hochster sues them. De La
Tour argues that Hochster is under the terms or obligation, stating that he should be ready to
perform until the 3 months is due. But Lord Campbell CJ dismisses the argument and awards
Hochster with the damages.

Actual
The refusal to abide by the contract is an actual breach. If one of the party withdraws to perform
before the due date or if he performs incompletely, then he commits a breach.

Illustration: Poussard was to perform opera in the London run for 3 months. The producers found a
substitute when she was ill. The producers refuse to take her back when she returned. The court
was with the producers as it discovered their defence justifiably. The court did not award her with the
damages. The contract claims that she must perform from the first day. Failure to oblige by the
contract made the producers reject her contract.

Remedies for the Breach of Contract

Suit for Rescission
if one party breaches the contract, then the other party need not oblige to the contract. The contract
stands cancelled if the aggrieved party cancels it. The aggrieved party can file for the damages.
Generally, the suit for the damages accompanies the cancellation of the contract by the aggrieved
party. This suit is for obtaining the damages of the breach.

Suit for Injunction

A restraint order from the court is an injunction. The court has the power to restrain a person from
doing a certain act. If the defendant does something that he should not perform, then the aggrieved
party can file a suit for injunction. This shall be temporary or permanent.

Suit for Specific Performance

A remedy which is given by the court to both parties to perform according to the contract. This is one
of the most common suits. The aggrieved party will not receive adequate relief of the monetary
compensation.

Suit for Quantum Meruit

Quantum Meruit for contracts means the reasonable value of services. If a person hires someone
and the contract is incomplete or un-performable, then the employer can sue the defendant for the
services and the value of improvements made. The law states that the employer has to pay the
employee an amount that he deserves for his services. If the employee is under an express contract
for a specific amount, then he cannot abandon the contract and suit for the Quantum Meruit.

Suit for Damages

General Damages or Ordinary Damages: The damages that come naturally through a breach. The
aggrieved party must prove the damages and also the amount of the damages in the suit.

Liquidated Damages and Penalty: Some contract addresses the issue of breaching its
consequences and also its penalty. If such a contract breaks then the party causing the breach
should pay the stipulated amount mentioned in the contract to the other party. The amount is
reasonable compensation, and it should not exceed the amount given in the contract. The parties
should not have obstacles to make provisions of the liquidated damages.

Special Damages: The aggrieved party must prove the special loses to claim the special damages.

Exemplary or Vindictive Damages: This claim is for the mental suffering or emotional suffering,
such suffering can also be due to the breach. Generally, the court takes care of such damages.

Nominal Damages: A remedy is provided for the breach, which was not there in the actual. It gives
a small remedy, and it is more technical than the actual.

Other Related Guides

1. Compensatory Damages

An award of compensatory damages is the most common of the legal remedies for breach of

contract.

The calculation of compensatory damages is based on the actual losses you have sustained as a

result of the breach of contract. They typically fall into two categories: expectation damages and

consequential damages.

Expectation Damages

Expectation damages—also referred to as general damages—are those that directly result from

the breach of contract.

For example, imagine a company that provides bus tours enters into a contract to buy a bus for

$100,000. However, the seller backs out of the contract and refuses to sell the bus. The bus

company finds another seller with a similar bus, but they won’t take less than $110,000. In that

case, the expectation damages would be $10,000—the difference between the contract price and

the amount the company had to pay another seller for the same product.

Consequential Damages

Consequential damages are those that flow as a natural consequence of the breach.

Consequential damages often comprises profits that a company lost as a result of the breach.

In the case of the bus example, imagine it took an extra week to secure the new bus. As a result,

the tour company had to turn away 1,000 customers that would have each paid $50 for a bus

tour. In that case, the company could likely recover consequential damages for the $50,000 they

lost in ticket sales.

Often the breaching party will attempt to avoid paying consequential damages by claiming that

they are too speculative or that they are not foreseeable. Also, sometimes parties to a contract

may limit or preclude either party from recovering consequential damages. An experienced

attorney can help you combat these arguments and maximize your damages award.

2. Specific Performance

Specific performance is a type of remedy for breach of contract in which a court orders the

breaching party to perform their end of the bargain.

Monetary damages are typically favored over specific performance as a remedy for breach of

contract. However, specific performance may be available when monetary damages won’t

adequately compensate you. For example, they may apply to a contract for something that is

unique and can’t be easily replaced.

In the bus example above, monetary damages would be sufficient to compensate the tour

company for its loss. But imagine that the new bus had been used previously by a famous singer.

The tour company wanted to use the bus for tours of the singer’s home town. In that case, the

tour company could argue for specific performance rather than monetary damages because no

other bus would be comparable to the one it contracted to buy.

3. Injunction

Injunctions serve a similar purpose as specific performance. The difference is that with specific

performance, the court orders a party to do something. With an injunction, the court often orders
a party not to do something.

An injunction may be permanent or temporary. Temporary injunctions are often ordered while

litigation is pending to prevent potential damage. For example, in a lawsuit that concerns a

breach of a noncompete contract, a court might order the defendant to cease the allegedly

competitive activity until the lawsuit is resolved. A permanent injunction, as the name suggests,

is permanent. A judge may issue a permanent injunction as part of their final ruling in a lawsuit.

4. Rescission

Rescission allows a nonbreaching party to cancel the contract as a remedy for a breach. Rather
than seeking monetary damages, the nonbreaching party can simply refuse to complete their end

of the bargain. Rescission puts the parties back in the position they would have been in had they

never entered into the contract.

However, to justify rescission, the breach must be material. That means that it has to go to the

heart of the contractual agreement.

For example, imagine that you contract to provide catering services for an event. The contract

requires the other party to pay half the contract price by a certain date, but they never pay.
Since payment goes to the heart of the contract, you would be justified in rescinding the contract

and refusing to provide the catering services.

5. Liquidated Damages

Liquidated damages are a specific amount the parties agree to in the contract as compensation for

a breach.

Contracts often use liquidated damages provisions where it might be difficult to calculate the

correct amount of compensatory damages.

Real estate purchase agreements and construction contracts commonly rely on liquidated

damages. They might be a specific sum, such as the amount of the earnest money on a purchase

contract. Or they could depend on a formula, such as a certain amount of money for each day a

deadline is not met. Partnership agreements are also likely to include liquidated damages

provisions.

Although courts typically uphold liquidated damages clauses, they may disregard them if the

amount of liquidated damages is drastically smaller or greater than the value of the actual harm

the plaintiff has suffered.

6. Nominal Damages

A court may award nominal damages as a legal remedy for breach of contract when the plaintiff

cannot support their claim for compensatory damages. With nominal damages, the court

recognizes that a breach of contract occurred, but no harm can be calculated.

While receiving nominal damages may feel like a pyrrhic victory, the plaintiff does get the

benefit of the ruling in their favor. This may be simply a moral victory, or it may pave the way

for the plaintiff to pursue another type of legal action. If the contract has an attorney fee
provision, an award of nominal damages may also enable the plaintiff to seek their attorney fees

from the defendant.