Do Anything You Have To Do!

Why would you get into a contract, not stick to the requirements and then have to try to wriggle your way out of it when it goes horribly wrong?  It’s amazing when you read some of the cases that go through the Courts, as to how many people or businesses get into a contract which, although it suits all of the parties involved at the time, when it then goes wrong (perhaps through no fault of anyone but just unfortunate circumstances like the insolvency of a client) they have to try and pick up the pieces.  Often, the contract states quite clearly what is supposed to happen.  For instance, there might be a clause saying that you will go to arbitration or you may have a contract with someone from overseas which states that the Courts of England and Wales will be correct place to bash it out.

I was just reading a case whereby there was a company complaining about losing their equipment when a lease of a building they were occupying was terminated.  The odd thing about this case to me was that the company had 28 days in which to go in and remove their equipment.  They didn’t do so and therefore lost the right to either get the equipment or to get compensation from the landlord when he leased the place to someone else.  I don’t know all the circumstances of the case but it just goes to show how easily things can go wrong.  Looking in from the outside, you wonder why they didn’t get round to removing their equipment – after all, 28 days is quite a long time.  But there you go…they didn’t and they ended up unsuccessfully taking the landlord to Court to try and get some compensation.  In trying to win, they used obscure legal arguments which failed to impress the Judge.

The lesson is – try your best to comply with the terms of all of your contracts otherwise you could end up dangling on a string trying to make it right when it is much too late.  Trying to use clever arguments to compensate for poor operational decisions is not the best way of spending your company’s budget.  Litigation can take out your bottom line.  If, however, you’ve already gone past the point of no return and you are going to have to go to Court, don’t forget that you may be able to get a solicitor to do it on a no win no fee basis.  Check out my website for some help with that.

Tina Morgan    www.john-kennedy.co.uk

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