A contract is an agreement between parties where there has been an offer and an acceptance - exchange of consideration/a benefit by the parties. Although parties may have had good intentions in the beginning, there are times when one party does not fulfill the agreed terms, to the detriment of the other. In these instances, it may be necessary to take action in order to have the matter resolved.
Trusted contract lawyer in the Bahamas
Contracts are usually drafted at the start of a relationship, although, if the parties have commenced a relationship they may enter into an agreement at any stage to memorialize the terms of their relationship in writing or otherwise.
A contract involves 2 or more persons or entities developing a set of agreed terms that each party respectively has agreed to abide by. The subject matter of a contract must be for a legal purpose otherwise no court will enforce its terms.
Contracts vary in format, and while some contracts are required to take on a specified form at law, such as, it must be in writing and signed (e.g. where there is interest in land being sold, according to the Law of Property Act 1925 s40), others can be of an oral nature with no requirements as to a written format and others consisting of both oral and written terms.
What is necessary in law for a contract to be established across the board, is that there must be an offer, acceptance of that offer and an exchange of “consideration”. Consideration is something that is of value.
At Capital Law Associates we are prepared to assist our clients defend against a claim for breach of contract or bring a claim against a party for breach of contract. Prior to moving forward to litigation, attempts may be made to resolve the issues of breach out of court. If there can be no agreement at this stage litigation is the next step. This is helped by a very good and effective contract lawyer from Bahamas. To establish if there has been a breach there are several factors that must exist, the important among which are:
There must have been a contract to begin with;
There must have been a failure to perform the contract by the respondent, in the absence of a justification (such as a force majeure resulting from acts of God); and
Damage must be experienced by the claimant as a result of the other party’s failure to perform.
Cases in which breach of contract was found to exist:
Massai Aviation Services & Anor v. The Attorney General & Anor (The Bahamas) 2007: When entering into a contract parties must ensure that they have an unencumbered right and ability to perform the terms of the contract, otherwise they can be found to be in breach of the contract should a third party prevent the performance of the contract. This was seen in the Bahamian case of Massai Aviation Services & Anor v. The Attorney General & Anor (The Bahamas). In this case the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council ruled that the Bahamas Government was found to be in breach of its contract when the state-owned flag carrier airline “Bahamasair”, refused to relocate to another hanger preventing the lessor from accessing the hanger. It was noted that the Government of the Bahamas was in breach because: “CAASL did not take its lease subject to any interest that Bahamasair might have in the site or any part of it. The whole purpose of the transaction was the comprehensive redevelopment of the site so as to provide an FBO facility, including a terminal building, and for that the Lessee required access to the whole site. This it was denied in breach of the Lessor’s covenant.
Byron Munnings v Ted Miller/Four T’s Construction: Nonperformance or delay in performance of the contract may result in a successful claim for breach of contract. This was seen in the case of Byron Munnings v Ted Miller/Four T’s Construction where the court found that the delay in completing a construction project by an agreed date was a breach of contract.
What considerations are to be taken if it is believed that I have a claim for breach of contract?
Meet with your contract attorney and provide your attorney with all the pertinent documents specifically the contract so that the terms can be reviewed, and your attorney can guide you as to whether or not a breach has occurred and whether or not there are remedy provisions, to address the breach;
Breach of contracts claims should generally be brought within 6 years from the date of the occurrence of the breach and your attorneys will do the appropriate calculations;
Your attorney’s review of the documents and a meeting with you can assist in determining whether or not the elements of breach of contract can be established and what actions should be taken in compliance with the contract terms and law;
You should advise your contract lawyer of the damages you have experienced and provide proof of this;
You should also have tried to mitigate your loss and provide your attorney with proof of this;
Your losses suffered should be foreseeable loss at the time the contract was made and this loss has resulted because of the breach;
Your attorney may advise you to expressly maintain your rights under the contract by advising the other party that you are not waiving your rights for their performance of the contract despite further actions, this should preferably be in writing;
To commence an action for breach of contract our attorneys at Capital Law Associates will meet with the client to review the contract and obtain an understanding of the damages that were incurred as a result of the breach. We will then advise our client on the likely outcome based on the evidence provided.
What remedies are available to me because of a breach of contract?
The remedies available because of a breach of contract are:
Termination;
Specific performance; or
Damages.
Your remedy will depend on the nature of the breach and the effect of such breach.
It is important to note that the remedy that the court provides for the breach of contract claim is to put the party who has suffered the loss resulting from the breach, back in the position he/she would have been in had the breach not occurred.
At Capital Law Associates we will assist our clients in bringing claims as well as defending claims for breach of contract. Breach of contract claims can be very complex. Capital Law Associates breach of contract attorneys from Nassau will review the details of the contract along with case law and legislation to guide you. Additionally, if there are industry specific practices, we will ensure that our review of these practices are carried out so as to give our clients the most comprehensive advice possible. We will assess the merits of your claim and provide our guidance based on a thorough assessment of your matter. We can be contacted at [email protected]; [email protected] for more information or telephone numbers (242) 356-3835 or (242) 677-5265. We are located at #10 Elizabeth on Bay, Bay Street and Elizabeth Avenue, Nassau, The Bahamas. We do not provide breach of contract support in Bahamas only for individual customers. We offer also business contract attorneys.
Information provided herein is for general information purposes only and should not be considered legal advice. To obtain legal advice you may contact our offices to engage the services of an attorney.
