A breach of contract may be obvious. It’s easy to tell when a contractor on a building project has not achieved practical completion on time. The hard part is figuring out how much the breaching contractor must pay in damages. This bit tends to get murky. Parties can spend a lot of time, money, and effort arguing over the measurement of damages. That’s why the law allows parties to include liquidated damages clauses in contracts….
Mandatory mediation clauses are often included in commercial contracts. They require the parties, in the event of a dispute, to sit down with a neutral mediator in an effort to find their own resolution before initiating a lawsuit. Mediation works great when both parties participate in good faith with an honest intent to resolve the dispute. In situations where only one party is sincere, however, the mediation process can become a ruse de guerre (French…
A “choice of law clause” is precisely what the name suggests. When your company signs a contract that has one of these, you’re agreeing that a particular state’s law will govern the contract and any future dispute. Lawyers carefully consider potential outcomes of hypothetical disputes when drafting contracts. This is especially true when it comes to choice of law provisions. Predicting outcomes is easier when you know which law will be applied. A common choice…
