What are the Laws Surrounding Breach of Contracts in GA?

If you can prove that you signed a legally valid contract and the other party did not fulfill its contractual obligations, you can sue for damages equal to the amount of money you lost as a result of the breach.

Georgia law enables individuals and companies to make legally binding written agreements, known as contracts, about almost anything. For example, you may have signed a contract with your employer when you started your current job. Businesses sign contracts with each other when one company promises to provide supplies and the other company promises to pay for them. Apartment leases are contracts, as are auto loan agreements and prenuptial agreements. Breach of contract occurs when one party to a contract does not fulfill the obligations for which it agreed by signing the contract, and the other party suffers financial losses as a result. If you suffered financial losses because of a breach of contract, you have the right to sue the breaching party in civil court. If you are involved in a breach of contract dispute, contact the Norcross, Georgia, corporate law attorneys at Zimmerman & Associates.

Will the Courts of Georgia Enforce the Contract?

The courts of Georgia will award you damages in a breach of contract lawsuit if you convincingly prove the following claims:

• You entered into a legally valid contract with the other party.
• The other party failed to perform its contractual obligations, but you performed yours, except where the other party’s breach of contract made this impossible.
• You suffered financial losses, such as loss of income, as a direct result of the other party’s breach of contract.

In some breach of contract disputes, proving that the contract is legally enforceable is the hardest part. For example, the court will not enforce the contract if its provisions require the parties to do something illegal; a contract where you agree to shoplift 10 smartphones per week from retail stores, and the other party agrees to pay you $50 for each one is not legally enforceable. The court also will not enforce contracts where the parties are contractually obligated to do the impossible; it is not a breach of contract if the other party fails to invent a time machine by the deadline indicated in the contract. Likewise, in employment contracts, the court sometimes determines non-compete provisions unenforceable if they are too restrictive.

The courts might also reject breach of contract lawsuits because of dispute resolutions within the text of the contract itself. For example, the court will reject your lawsuit if the contract indicates procedures you must follow before filing a breach of contract lawsuit, like arbitration, but you did not follow those procedures. Likewise, the court will only rule on a breach of contract lawsuit if the contract’s dispute resolution clauses say that the courts of Georgia have jurisdiction to rule on disputes arising from the contract. If the contract has a mandatory arbitration clause, it is not easy to get the court to accept the lawsuit instead of sending you to arbitration.

Contact Zimmerman & Associates About Breach of Contract Cases in Georgia

An Atlanta corporate law attorney can represent you in a breach of contract dispute. Contact Zimmerman & Associates in Norcross, Georgia, to set up a consultation.