Civil litigations are different from criminal litigations. In civil litigation, there is no criminal charge involved. The party identified as the plaintiff, claims that there was wrongdoing made to them, and as a result, they now require compensation or specific performance from the other party which is called the defendant.
Civil litigations don’t always finish in court, because civil litigation attorneys know how costly and lengthy a trial can be. Normally, settlements out of court are made, unless civil litigation attorneys find that trial needs to be done to win the case.
When a civil case involves businesses such as corporations, the civil case now becomes complex civil litigation in the form of commercial litigation. The most common types of this litigation are intellectual property cases, antitrust cases, torts, bad faith cases, class action lawsuits, and contractual disputes.
Breach of a contract or contractual disputes are quite popular in commercial litigations. If a company or a person was unable to complete a promise made in a legally binding contract or agreement with another individual or company, then the result is a civil proceeding. In these situations, detailed corporate investigations are conducted to check on whether each party did not do their part in the agreement thus resulting in damages or other negative impacts.
Contractual disputes can be of different types. A material breach of contract takes place when one of the parties receives a significantly less incentive or a highly different result than what was specified in a contract.
Another form is a minor breach of contract, also referred to as an immaterial or partial breach of contract. This happens when not all agreed responsibilities of a party were all complied with. For example, the items may be delivered, but some other obligation was not carried out such as after-sales service guaranteed in the contract.
Contractual disputes also arise from an anticipatory breach of contract. It is where a party is anticipated to be highly likely not to fulfill their end of the promise. And lastly, there is an actual breach of contract. In this case, the breach already occurs as the party involved has already refused to comply with their end of the promise.
Contractual disputes are common, but that does not mean they are simple. When handling these cases, trained and seasoned civil litigation lawyers are advised to be hired for their service.