Breach of Contract

Four things: that a binding contract existed, that its terms were breached, that the breach caused loss, and the amount of that loss. The contract need not be a signed document, because agreements made by email, by purchase order or by conduct are enforceable if the essential elements are present. The evidence that decides claims is usually documentary: the terms, the delivery and payment records and the correspondence, which is why assembling the file properly is the first step.

The primary measure puts you in the position you would have been in had the contract been performed: the value of what you should have received, the profits lost on the bargain and the costs thrown away, limited by remoteness and reduced to the extent losses could reasonably have been mitigated. Statutory or contractual interest is added, and where the contract contains a valid liquidated damages clause the agreed figure applies. We advise on the realistic recoverable range before proceedings are considered.

Only where the breach justifies it: breach of a condition, a sufficiently serious breach of an intermediate term, or a renunciation showing the other side no longer intends to be bound. Where those grounds exist, you can accept the repudiation, treat the contract as at an end and claim damages. Terminating without the right to do so is itself a repudiation exposing you to the other side’s claim, so the decision should be taken on advice with the correspondence framed carefully.

The standard limitation period is six years from the date of the breach, or twelve years for contracts made by deed, under the Limitation Act 1980. Time can be extended by concealment, fraud or mistake, and shortened by contractual notification clauses requiring claims to be raised within a stated period, which are enforced as written. Once a claim is out of time it cannot be pursued regardless of merit, so limitation should be checked at the outset and protected where it is close.

Respond strategically rather than instinctively. The claim is tested against the true construction of the terms, the performance records and the claimant’s own conduct, and defences frequently include set off for defects, the claimant’s failure to mitigate, and exclusion or limitation clauses capping what is recoverable. Admissions made in early correspondence are hard to retrieve, so take advice before replying substantively. A well evidenced defence, served early, changes the settlement arithmetic in your favour.

Generally yes: contracts made orally or by conduct are binding if agreement, consideration and intention can be shown, with limited exceptions such as contracts for the sale of land, which must be in writing. The difficulty is proof, so verbal contract claims are built from the surrounding documents: quotes, invoices, messages, payments and the parties’ behaviour. Those records usually establish both that a contract existed and what its essential terms were.

We quote fixed fees for every stage, agreed before any work starts, at prices around 30% cheaper than a standard law firm, from the initial review of the contract and evidence through to mediation or trial. In court proceedings the general rule is that the losing party contributes to the winning party’s costs, but recovery is discretionary and rarely complete, and we advise on realistic cost recovery prospects before you commit to any course of action.