How To Assess Whether You Have A Breach of Contract Claim Under NY Law

Although it is certainly not difficult to understand that when you enter into a written agreement with a services provider and they fail to provide those services that they are liable to you in breach of contract, the broader question of what types of contracts are governed by this doctrine is far more complex, and perhaps a bit surprising. In that vein, this article aims to educate the public about some of the more common types of breach of contract claims in order to provide some minimal guidance and alert you about when it may behoove you to contact a breach of contract lawyer. Thus, following are four (4) of the more common categories of breach of contract claims:

• Breach of Services Contract - Generally speaking, 2 different types of claims can arise from one of these contracts - either the service was not rendered at all, or the service that was rendered was unsatisfactory. There are important technical criteria that help determine whether such a claim would be valid. For example, if the services are intended to be rendered over the course of more than one year, the contract must be reduced to writing. (This is known as the Statute of Frauds.)
  
• Breach of Warranty - These claims often arise in either the defective products context, or in consumer fraud actions. There are two types of warranties that can be the subject of claims: express and implied warranties. Naturally, breach of implied warranties are more difficult to prove than express warranty claims that are spelled out.
• Breach of Insurance Contract - this should be self-explanatory.
• Breach of Bailor/Bailee Agreement -basically, these claims stem from when you entrust your property to someone else, and the property is lost or damaged.

As a final note, it bears repeating that you need not wait until after the contract is actually breached before taking legal action; if it becomes apparent that the other side to your agreement does not intend to abide by the contract, you may have a valid claim for anticipatory breach of contract or repudiation (see "When It Becomes Clear That Your Small Business' Partner Is Going To Breach Your Contract").

Long Island, New York business litigation lawyer Jonathan Cooper represents businesses and individuals in commercial litigation and other matters ranging from breach of contract and breach of fiduciary duty to trade secret theft in New York's courts located in Nassau, Brooklyn, Bronx, Queens, Suffolk counties, as well as New York City and Westchester. In order to learn more information about business or commercial litigation under New York law, please see Jonathan Cooper's New York business litigation blog; to schedule a free consultation with Mr. Cooper, please contact his main office located in Cedarhurst, Long Island at 516.791.5700, or toll free at 866.374.1164.

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