Legal Question in Business Law in California
Contract Law
I am a contractor with a contract to complete a reroof contract dated 11-2-00 and signed by the owners on 11-19-00. We notified him then that it would be from this date approximately 4-5 and at this time they said they were going to be out of town and of course would like us to wait till after the Holidays. We talked one more time on the 12th of December and informed the owners that we more than likely will be doing their roof after the Holidays and would call to arrange a date then. He then asked for us to wait till at least after the holidays to begin work. We accomodated that request and called to schedule work on Tuesday the 8th to start Thursday the 10th of January 2002, when he had informed us that he had already signd a contract with another roofing contractor to do the work and it was done already. I mentioned that we had a signed contract and he said it did not matter, but to me when I schedule work on the assumption that signed contracts are my agreements to perform work, and I schedule accordingly. My question is, is there a stand I can take to enforce the contract he signed to do or not whether he chose someone else to do the work without informing us or not.
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: Contract Law
First, I assume the dates you give as November 2000 are actually November 2001. This makes a difference!
Based on the limited facts given, if you can prove (or convince a judge or jury) that the phone conversations took place as you say, and there are no other material facts not given, and nothing contrary in the written contract itself, I think you would prevail in a breach of contract suit.
The problem is that your provable damages may not be that great. If you incurred no prep costs such as purchasing materials, signing subcontracts, etc. you damages may be no more than lost profit, and even that might be reduced by profits made from other jobs you were able to handle because you didn't have this one (if that is the case).
Re: Contract Law
Certainly! Contract damages are what would make the non breaching party whole, that is in the same position had the breaching party performed the contract. That translates into your lost profits. You' d have to prove what your profits would have been had the contract been performed, whether or not the breaching party had, in his breach, hired someone else to do the job.
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