Nelson Ltd is a publisher, specializing in producing fictional textbooks. In Jan

Question

Nelson Ltd is a publisher, specializing in producing fictional textbooks. In January 2018, they decided to produce a new edition of a particular book and commissioned Hilary and Donald to produce the work. Hilary was to provide the text and Donald was to produce the extensive diagrams and each of them was to be paid $25,000. The contract entered into between Nelson Ltd and Hilary required the text to be produced by 30th April 2017 and the terms of Donald’s contract required the diagrams to be submitted by 30th June 2017. In March 2017, Hilary informed Nelson Ltd that she would not supply the finished text on time, unless Nelson Ltd increased her payment by $5,000. Nelson Ltd agreed to the increase, but when Hilary submitted her invoice on delivering the text, Nelson Ltd refused to pay the additional amount. In May 2017, Donald informed Nelson Ltd that he was no longer willing to produce the diagrams for the book. Nelson Ltd however, can get someone else to produce the diagrams, but given the time lost, they will have to pay an additional $1,500 to produce the diagrams on time for printing the textbook as originally planned.

Required: In the context of the law of contract, advise: (a) what action Hilary can take against Nelson Ltd to enforce the additional payment; Can Nelson Ltd take any actions against Donald for his failure to produce the diagram as agreed.

Kindly assist in answering this questing with a word limit of 500 words

kindly provide references if necessary

kindly provide a similar court cases to aid with the explaination of the question.

Explanation / Answer

In both Hilary and Donald cases there is a breach of contract.

1. First, in the case of Hilary, he worked hard and asked for extra money as a compensation which Nelson Ltd agreed to pay. But Nelson Ltd. breached the contract which injured and damaged Hilary in some way. this type of cases is called actual breach.

This type of breach of contract occurs when a party refuses to fulfill a promise which he or she is supposed to be fulfilled. Breach of contract is totally illegal, but it is upto the injured party whether he wants to take the case on lawsuit or not. As it is seen that Hilary is a clear victim in this case so there are two ways of compensating the damage :-

i) Expectation damages

ii) Consequential damages

In case of Hilary, Expectation damages (Monetary damages) may be suitable. This type of compensation damage means that the other party will compensate any monetary reward or the contract promise itself to the injured party. So, Hilary can either ask the $ 500 amount or may be some other compensatory reward from Nelson Ltd.

2. Though Donald informed before the due date to Nelson Ltd that he is no longer willing to produce the diagrams for printing the textbook, but then also it is a breach of contract as he failed to fulfill a contract. This type of breach of contract is called Anticipatory breach.

Anticipatory breach occurs when a party declared prior to the due date, that he intends to not fulfill the promise. Here, in this case is can be seen that Nelson Ltd is the victim of the breach of contract. They have to pay extra amount for the diagram needed to be done and there will much time consumed for this. For the compensation of the damages occured Nelson Ltd can ask for 'Specific performance' from Donald.

Specific Performance means where there monetary reward is inadequate for the injured party. If after breaching the contract Donald gives an amount of money to Nelson Ltd then it will be of no use because the damage Donald gave to Nelson Ltd needs some more compensation. Nelson can potentially claim for his substantial loss.

References, if needed -

https://www.rocketlawyer.com/article/crash-course:-four-types-of-contract-breaches.rl

https://contracts.uslegal.com/breach-of-contract-remedies/

Actual breach court case -

https://www.calt.iastate.edu/article/two-iowa-breach-contract-cases-two-judgments-plaintiffs

Anticipatory breach court case -

https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/breach-of-contract-anticipatory-breach-32653.html

Hope this answer will help you :)

Related Questions

Navigate

• Browse (All)
• Browse N
• Subjects

Integrity-first tutoring: explanations and feedback only — we do not complete graded work. Learn more.