New York Breach Of Contract Legal Questions

Contractual choices of law clauses are generally enforceable in New York, even if neither party resides in New York, let alone when one of them does.  You can file suit in New York provided that  the other party has sufficient contacts with New York so that it can exercise jurisdiction over him/her.  Depending on what type of contract it was, it is likely that the contract itself is a sufficient contact with New York to allow you to sue for its breach in New York.... Read More

Do you have a contract (could be personal, union, or, in some cases, arise from an employee handbook) which requires your employer to give you a period of prior notice before termination?  Absent such a contract, there is no requirement that your employer provide you with prior notice of termination.... Read More

Court costs are generally awarded to the prevailing party, but these costs are minimal, i.e. filing fees, etc.  They would not cover your attorneys' fees or travel expenses.  Absent a statute or contractual provision expressly providing for the prevailing party to recover attorneys' fees and/or other expenses, each party pays its own.... Read More

If your attorney provided wrong information to you about something related to his/her legal representation of your interests (i.e. the false information was, for example, about whether a debt was dischargeable in bankruptcy, not what horse was going to win the Belmont), and you can prove that this mistake caused you damages, you may have a malpractice claim against him/her.... Read More

The lack of witnesses or notarization does not invalidate the contract.  Assuming that there are no other problems (e.g. your ex claims her signature was forged, that she was under duress when she signed it, that the agreement was subsequently modified, that she paid you, etc.),  you should be able to enforce it in Court, or get damages for the breach.... Read More

The llc can sue in small claims, but since it will need an attorney (unless you are admitted to practice law, you can't represent anyone other than yourself, so you can't represent the llc), it is possible that the small claims court will transfer the suit to another part of the court, especially if the defendant also hires an attorney.... Read More

Anyone can sue anyone for anything, but I don't see any merit to your suit.  Your complaint is that the car seller called your friends and told them unflattering things about you, but if what they said was truthful, they have every right to say it, however rude.  Nor is it actionable that the car company was rude to your wife.... Read More

You can sue her for breach of contract, but it will be difficult to serve her if you don't know her address.  You can file the lawsuit from abroad, but, unless she admits that she didn't pay you,  you're going to have to appear in Court at least once to testify to that fact (no one else can testify because no one else has personal knowledge.)  As I don't know the law of the jurisdiction in which you currently reside, I can't tell you whether you can sue her there.... Read More

You can have a lawyer represent your llc (in fact, as a general matter you can't represent the llc unless you are an attorney, although some small claims courts may allow it) but (a) it will probably cost as much or more than your travel expenses and (b) you would have no way of proving your case, since the attorney would have no knowledge of the facts other than what you had told him.  You need a witness with knowledge of the facts to testify.  Even if your case is based on documents, you will need someone to authenticate the documents. Why don't you sue him/her/it in England?  British law may be different, but if it is similar to American law in this area, the British courts would have jurusdiction over the defendant since the suit is over a contract he/she/it entered with a British resident which involved he/she/it remitting money to England and/or returning goods to England.  Once you obtain a judgment, you will probably have to domesticate the judgment in NY to collect, but all you would have to prove is jurisdiction.  If that was satisfied, you wouldn't have to establish the merits again.... Read More

The question is not whether a New York court would have jurisdiction over the case (subject matter jurisdiction) but whether it would have jurisdiction over your NC neighbor (personal jurisdiction.)  This turns on whether your NC neighbor has sufficient "minimum contacts"  so that NY could exercise jurisdiction over him without violating the US Constitution.  It takes less contacts to establish personal jurisdiction where the contacts are related to the suit, but here your neighbor appears to have negotiated and entered into the contract from NC and was to perform it in NC.  Does your NC neighbor own or lease any real property in NY?  Does he conduct business in NY?  Does he reside in NY part of the time?  Absent some contact llike the ones I listed above, I don't think that a New York court could exercise jurisdiction over him.... Read More

In NY, pursuant to CPLR 7502, a special proceeding to confirm an arbitration award must be brought, within one year of the award, before the New York Supreme Court in the County specified in the arbitration agreement or, if no county is specified in the agreement, in a county in which at least one of the parties resides or is doing business, or in the county in whcih the arbitration was held.  I'm not sure about New Jersey, but I'm pretty sure that you would have to confirm the New Jersey award through a summary proceeding in a New Jersey court, and that, although there may be other acceptable venues, you would be able to do so in the Superior Court in the County in which the arbitration was held.  After the awards are confirmed as judgments, you can domesticate them in NC, if necessary, to enable you to utilize collection procedures.... Read More

The consequences for breach of a contract are that the breaching party is liable for any damages which the non-breaching party incurs as a direct result of the breach.  Here, that might be the additional cost of hiring someone to replace you.  The non-breaching party may also be able to compel the breaching party to fulfill the contract or, in the case of a personal services contract like yours, an injunction barring the breaching party from working for anyone else during the term of the contract.  HOWEVER, from what you've written, it doesn't seem as if you've breached the contract because the agency hasn't been holding up its end by giving you full time hours.  One party's material breach excuses the other party's performance under the contract.  Also, it is not a breach of contract where the other party has prevented you from performing, as the agency is preventing you from performing by working full time.... Read More

Failure to pay on time and in full is generally considered a material breach sufficient to excuse  you from your obligations under the contract, assuming you haven't waived or modified any rights by not having terminated the contract earlier, that you have not committed a material breach first, which could have excused the produceer from having to pay as set forth in the agreement, and assuming the contract doesn't have some specific provision preventing you from quitting (its crazy, but if the contract said, for example, that "delay in payment will not excuse performance, but the sole remedy for such delay will be a suit for money damages", that could be binding.) ... Read More

I will assume that the contract has not simply expired by its terms, but that the seller has breached the contract by not performing within a given time period.  I will also assume that the IRS only has a lien, and not a garnishment, order of attachment, or injunction against transfer. While the IRS lien may not prevent you from obtaining specific performance, you might not want it if the IRS has a lien on that asset.  For example, if the IRS has a lien on the seller's inventory, with no injunction or attachment, the asset can be sold, but the sale is still subject to the lien, so that the IRS could theoreticall foreclose on that asset to satisfy its lien, even if the asset has been transferred to you.  Moreover, you will have a very hard time selling the asset yourself. Also, you can't win specific performance unless the thing being sold is unique in some way, i.e. can't be purchased elsewhere.  Real property is unique.  A Renoir painting is unique.  Two pairs of black socks are not unique.  The buyer's remedy when the seller breaches a contract to sell non-unique goods is to buy the same goods from someone else and sue the seller for the extra money he/she had to pay.  If you can prove what it would have cost to replace the goods, you don't have to actually go out and buy replacements if you don't want, but just sue the seller for the difference between the contract price you were going to pay, and the actual market price if you had replaced the goods.  Alternatively, you may be able to rescind the contract, meaning you would get back the money you had already paid the seller (although the IRS may have priority.)... Read More

From your question, I'm assuming hat reBar was a separate legal entity, such as a corporation or llc, which has filed bankruptcy.  You can file a claim with the bankruptcy court for a refund, but it appears that there may be many creditors in front of you, and the bankrupt estate is therefore unlikely to have enough money to pay you in full, and maybe not at all.  Mr. Stevens would also be personally liable for a refund, but, even if he is found, he is also unlikely to have any money left to pay you back, and won't be earning much from jail.... Read More

If you think the law firm committed malpractice, you could have sued them.  On these facts, I don't think you would have won, but the issue is moot because (unless there are exceptional circumstances of which I am unaware, such as the attorneys having continued to represent you until last year) the statute of limitations on your claim ran out many years ago.... Read More

You don't have to sue him in Florida, you only have to have him served in Florida, which you can hire a process server to do.  This dispute arose in New York and involves a contract which was negotiated and executed in New York between two New York residents (at the time) and was to be performed in New York.  There is no question that New York can exercise jurisdiction over this matter, and no question that it will be cheaper and easier for you to sue him in New York (if you sue him in  Florida, you're going to have to fly to Florida at least once to testify.)  However, you may have to sue in Supreme Court rather than small claims, because I'm not sure that small claims court has jurisdiction over out of state residents.  You can ask the clerk of your local small claims court about that. ... Read More

That depends on the agreement.  Oral agreements are generally enforceable, but certain contracts generally require a writing to be enforceable, including contracts for the sale of real property, contracts which cannot be fully performed within one year from when they are made, and contracts for the sale of goods for more than $500. ... Read More

Does the contract (an agreement is a contract) provide that you can't be let go for any reason until 6/30/14, or does it provide some grounds for which you can be terminated but doesn't include the student no longer requiring you?  If so, you may have a claim for breach of contract to collect damages for the pay you would have made between 2/28/14 and 6/30/14 (minus any money you make at another job that you couldn't have made if you hadn't lost the interpreting job.)... Read More

If you just leave you will have breached the lease, and will be responsible for any damages the landlord suffers due to that breach, which might or might not be the full four month's remaining rent (depending on whether the landlord is able to rent your space or not), plus interest at 9% (the statutory rate in NY.)  Your lease almost certainly includes an attorneys' fee provision which would require you to pay the landlord's reasonable attorneys' fees for seeking to enforce the lease.   The landlord will obtain a money judgment against you, and will then begin collection proceedings in which the landlord may seek to collect from your bank accounts or other assets, and/or garnish your wages or other income.  It will be more difficult for the landlord to do so when you live in Texas, but not that hard.... Read More

You can sue, but I don't see how you can win.  A credit card company is not a court.  It has no power or right to adjudicate whether you or the merchant is legally right.  Assuming that you have the standard contract with the credit card company, it appears to have followed that contract if it let the merchant know that you were challenging the charge.  If the merchant insists that you owe the money, the credit card company will pay it, just as I'm sure your credit card agreement provides.  Your recourse, as the credit card company informed you, is to sue the merchant.  Meanwhile, the credit card company has actually paid the merchant, but you have refused to repay the credit card company, so of course that failure to pay has appeared on your credit  history, and of course the credit card company is trying to get you to repay it.   ... Read More