Legal Question in Construction Law in California

Re: Contracts

by sending a letter of cancellation. HOWEVER, you may be in breach of the contract and subject to damages if you are not justified in cancelling. you need to look seriously to be sure the reason for cancellation is in your favor. Try to talk to your customer and work out a mutual recission.

Best of luck

Re: Contracts

A contract, once signed, is ordinarily (but not always) binding on the parties. Failing to perform a valid contract is a breach, and the remedy for breach is money damages. If you have to breach your contract, you are best off by doing so by promptly announcing your intention, but after some negotiation with the other parties. This should minimize your exposure to damages.

There are circumstances in which a contract, or what appears to be a contract, is not binding. It might be void (e.g., because a party is a minor, or the subject matter is illegal), or, more frequently, it may be voidable under the Civil Code, which uses the terms "extinguish" and "rescind" (or its noun form, "rescission"). See, e.g., Civil Code sections 1682, 1688 and 1689. Rescission can be done with the consent of all the parties, or by one party in a bunch of situations which are set forth in various parts of the Civil Code -- mostly in Part 2 of Division 3, and particularly section 1689(b), which lists reasons such as fraud, menace, duress, and mistake. "Failure of consideration" is also mentioned as a ground for unilateral rescission; an example might be if the owner and contractor agree that contractor will paint owner's house before the rainy season if owner will prep it in the next three weeks. After four weeks or so pass and the owner hasn't done what she agreed to do, that's a failure of consideration and the contractor is off the hook (and may have a suit for breach against the owner).

Hope this is some help.