Commercial Disputes

Analyze Your Position

• Identify the relevant part of the agreement or article of agreement in question.
• Closely review the article of agreement to identify what it means.
• Identify the obligations or responsibilities that flow from the article of agreement for one party or the other.
• Are there any related articles in the agreement? Is there an internal reference in that article of agreement to another part of the agreement?
• Considering the obligations, closely consider the infringing conduct – is there a infraction of the agreement or merely different views of what should be performed?
• What are the future implications for the performance of the agreement in the context of the allegation of infraction?

Notice of Breach Checklist

• The agreement by name and the date of its execution or the time it was entered.
• The relevant article of agreement.
• The alleged effect or meaning of that article of agreement.
• What the party infringing has or has not done in relation to its obligation.
• What the victim of the infraction contends should happen because of the infraction.
• Any claims for damages or other legal rights that the victim of the infraction thinks they may have.

Asserting a Dispute Checklist

• The agreement sets out a form of notice to be sent by one party alleging a infraction by the other party and explaining the infraction.
• The agreement allows for a period for that infraction to be remedied – ordinarily 30 days but there is no hard and fast rule in this regard.
• If there is no remedy of the infraction, then the party is left to its rights under the agreement either to affirm it and continue trading notwithstanding the infraction or to terminate the agreement.