QLD What are the Remedies for Breach of Contract?

[NotABabe]

Hi,

Thank you all in advance for viewing and answering my questions.

Us the plaintiff is a company. The defendants are company A and company B. We signed a contract with company A; the representatives of company A are all working under company B.

In the contract, the payment term is as following (exact words): "the company will pay the contractor for its services in accordance with monthly invoices supplied by the contractor." and "We will pay your company's tax invoice on terms of calendar monthly on the 20th day after the end of the month, or the next working day..."

Currently without the late fees and interest, the debt owing is around $90,000. The case will be filed in QLD Magistrate court.

1. The facts that the other party who signed the contract did not pay the invoices in full since the very beginning, can we take it as breach of contract?

2. From the previous questions I posted in the forum, it could be controversial to claim the late fees even though all our invoices had the 10% late fee stated in the terms and conditions.The other party owed about 150 invoices (partially paid or not paid at all). Are we allowed to claim the late fees? Can we claim remedies (compensatory and punitive)? The worst case, can we claim the late fee as the compensatory?

3. If we could claim the remedies, how do I word it in the statement of claim?

4. Do we leave the interest calculation and finalizing to the court, or do we have to have a specific amount claimed (Section 58 Civil Proceedings Act 2011)?

5. One of the executives made a promise to get us paid, he confirmed the promise 3 times, but then played games so at the end we didn't get paid. Can we list him as a defendant?

Thanks again.

 

[Rob Legat - SBPL]

I'm not a litigation lawyer, but I am a contracts lawyer. You should get proper representation for this, as the ability to succeed in a contract dispute in court can live or die on your level of representation.


In answer to your questions:


1. This will depend on the terms of your contract. It's difficult to tell without a full review of the documents, but it would appear that they may be in breach of the terms of payment. Without a full look at all the facts and circumstances, there's no way to conclusively say one way or another.


2. Don't claim the late fee. Claim interest at the statutory rate.


3. Carrying on from two, state that you claim interest on the outstanding invoice amounts pursuant to section 58 of the Civil Proceedings Act 2011 (Qld). You will have had to detail the dates of the invoices, and their due dates already.


4. You will need to calculate it for the court, and can find the applicable rates for the particular dates here: http://www.courts.qld.gov.au/courts-calculator/interest-rates


Calculate interest from the date each invoice was due to be paid, not the date it was created.


You cannot compound the interest.


5. No, unless there’s something that personally ties him to payment (such as a guarantee). Even then, you have to make sure you’ve made the proper demands on him. From what you’ve explained in 5, there’s nothing to indicate that he’s done anything outside usual representation on behalf of a company.

 

[NotABabe]

I'm not a litigation lawyer, but I am a contracts lawyer. You should get proper representation for this, as the ability to succeed in a contract dispute in court can live or die on your level of representation.


In answer to your questions:


1. This will depend on the terms of your contract. It's difficult to tell without a full review of the documents, but it would appear that they may be in breach of the terms of payment. Without a full look at all the facts and circumstances, there's no way to conclusively say one way or another.


2. Don't claim the late fee. Claim interest at the statutory rate.


3. Carrying on from two, state that you claim interest on the outstanding invoice amounts pursuant to section 58 of the Civil Proceedings Act 2011 (Qld). You will have had to detail the dates of the invoices, and their due dates already.


4. You will need to calculate it for the court, and can find the applicable rates for the particular dates here: http://www.courts.qld.gov.au/courts-calculator/interest-rates


Calculate interest from the date each invoice was due to be paid, not the date it was created.


You cannot compound the interest.


5. No, unless there’s something that personally ties him to payment (such as a guarantee). Even then, you have to make sure you’ve made the proper demands on him. From what you’ve explained in 5, there’s nothing to indicate that he’s done anything outside usual representation on behalf of a company.

Hi Rob,

Thanks for your reply.

1. The payment terms in the contract were only 2 lines... throughout the document there was nothing else related or mentioned payments.

2. Understood.

3. and 4., done and done.

5. Understood.

In short, any circumstance we could claim any remedies?

Thank you again.

 

[Rob Legat - SBPL]

I don't think you mean 'remedy', I think you mean 'damages'. The short answer is no, beyond the interest you're allowed to claim.

 

[NotABabe]

I don't think you mean 'remedy', I think you mean 'damages'. The short answer is no, beyond the interest you're allowed to claim.

Thank you Rob. Just thought companies like them should get punished, they certainly broke laws...so I was thinking about punitive...

 

[Rod]

No punitive damages for a straight breach of contract.

What you can and should do is add a costs order to your claim.