Businesses in the Santa Fe area rely on business contracts with many different parties and for numerous purposes. For example, your business may have contracts with employees pertaining to the terms of their employment, with clients concerning your services and their schedule of payments to you, with vendors who deliver necessary products to your office, and with service companies that provide your business with a variety of services, from computer updates to payroll. Our experienced New Mexico business litigation attorneys know how critical it is to be able to rely on existing contracts and business relationships you have cultivated, and we also know how difficult it can be to deal with a breach of contract in which the other party is not abiding by the terms of the agreement.
If you suspect that another party with whom you have a contractual agreement has breached the contract, what steps should you take next?
1. Contact the Party Who May be Breaching the Agreement
In some cases, a breach of contract does not occur out of intention or ill will. To be sure, if you have a business contract with another company that provides goods or services for your business, that company might have made an honest mistake in failing to deliver a certain product by a particular date or failing to perform a specific service on the agreed-upon timeline. Unless the delay in performance has resulted in a hardship or loss to your business, you may be able to resolve the breach relatively quickly and effectively by simply getting in touch with the breaching party. If the breaching party did not realize it breached the existing contract or made a mistake, that party might be willing to negotiate with you to remedy the problem without turning to litigation. You can also ask your Santa Fe business law attorney to handle these contacts and negotiations on behalf of your business.
2. Begin Working with Your Business Litigation Lawyer to Determine Your Losses and a Litigation Timetable
If more information discussion and negotiation with the breaching party does not resolve the breach of contract, you should begin discussing the possibility of litigation with your business litigation lawyer in Santa Fe. These discussions should involve a determination of your losses—and thus the remedy you will be seeking through litigation—as well as the timetable associated with your lawsuit. Under New Mexico law, most breach of contract lawsuits must be filed within four years from the date that the breach occurred.
3. Consider Further Negotiations or Mediation Before Going to Court
Just because you begin working on a breach of contract case with your Santa Fe business litigation lawyer does not mean that your case will need to go to court. To be sure, the work of business litigation attorneys in New Mexico is to help you avoid court and to resolve the dispute when possible. Your attorney can still negotiate with the other side to resolve the breach of contract and can assist you with alternative dispute resolution (ADR) options like mediation before it becomes necessary to go before a judge.
Seek Advice from Our Santa Fe Business Litigation Lawyers
If you are facing a contract breach and need assistance resolving the issue with the breaching party, an experienced business litigation lawyer at our firm in New Mexico can assess your case for you today and can begin working with you on a resolution. Contact Slate Stern Law today.