Contract breaches can be classified in a few different ways, including minor breaches and material breaches. A material breach involves inaccurate fulfillment of the contract, such as a parts supplier sending a shipment of the wrong parts and materials. This is clearly considered a major issue that means the contract wasn’t fulfilled.
A minor breach typically revolves around the date on which that contract was supposed to be fulfilled. If the company ships the parts and they are supposed to arrive on Monday, but they arrive on Wednesday, it is known as a minor breach. But don’t assume that that means that this is a “minor” issue. It can still cause major problems for the business.
Setting back production
For example, your business may have needed those parts and materials on Monday so that the production lines could run. Without them, your business had to pay workers to do nothing at all, or you had to send them home. Either way, production suffered greatly, setting your operation back by two days.
On top of that, these delays could mean that you in turn miss deliveries to stores or other distribution centers. That could put your contracts with those centers in jeopardy, or you could miss out on sales, all because the contract wasn’t fulfilled on time. It can harm the reputation of your company moving forward.
Your legal options
It’s important to consider all of these factors if you’re seeking compensation or taking legal action after a contract breach. Be sure you know what steps to take and what legal options you have.