Remedies for Breach of Contract

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Chapter 12.2 Remedies for Breach of Contract An
outline
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When a contract has been breached
enforce the contract as agreed
the plaintiff may wish to
get out of the contract and claim damages
continue with the contract and claim damages
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Enforcing contractual obligations
To enforce a positive obligation The court may
award specific performance, e.g. can compel a
vendor to transfer land he/she has agreed to
sell.
To enforce a negative obligation The court can
issue an injunction to prevent a party from doing
something he/she had contracted not to do.
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Getting out of a contract on the grounds of
breach by the other party

• In the case of contracts for services, sales of
  land and consumer contracts
• By legislation the innocent party is entitled to
  cancel the contract
• if the breach is related to an essential
  obligation, or
• if the breach destroyed the effect of the
  contract.
• In the case of consumer contracts, the failure
  must have been substantial.

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Getting out of a contract on the grounds of
breach by the other party

• In the case of contracts for sale of goods
• The innocent party is entitled to rescind the
  contract if there has been a breach of condition,
  for example, if
• the seller failed to pass good title,
• the goods did not correspond to description
  and/or sample,
• the goods were not fit for purpose or were not
  of merchantable quality.

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Claims for damages in contract

• Types of damages
• special damages
• general damages
• exemplary damages
• Other source of monetary compensation
• Section 9 of the Contractual Remedies Act
• Section 43(2)(c) and (d) of the Fair Trading Act
  1986