A breach of contract refers to any infringement of the terms of a legally binding agreement. If either signing party of a contract fails to uphold their end of the agreed upon terms, they may be found to be in breach of the contract.

In a loan agreement, breach of contract can be as simple as late or non-payment or unscrupulous collection practices. Other examples of breach of contract can occur in an employment contract where either an employee does not render services or an employer does not render payment.

The remedies for a breach of contract are usually described in the language of the contract itself. For example, if the contract is a loan agreement for the purchase of some property or asset, the consequences for breaching the contract could include repossession of the asset the loan was used to purchase.

There are two main categories of breach of contract defenses: denial and voiding. A claim of denial seeks to demonstrate that the alleged breach did not occur or that the alleged activity does not actually constitute a breach of contract in the agreement as written. A claim of voiding holds that the breach of contract claim is not valid because at some time prior to the alleged action, the plaintiff undertook an action or series of actions that voided the contract, therefore eliminating the ability for either party to claim breach of contract. For a full spectrum of potential defenses, a Contract Law attorney should be consulted.

Ultimately it’s impossible to prevent someone from being deceptive or failing to uphold their end of an agreement. What can be done is preventatively enumerating the expectations of a contract as well as the penalties for violating the terms of the agreement. If a party has violated their contract, it may be time to involve the court to enforce the penalties and responsibilities associated with breaking the contract.