Initial interview with a clientGREETING: NICE

TO SEE YOU AGAIN/ IT´S A PLEASURE TO

MEET YOU

EXPLAINING WHAT

HAPPENS IN THE

INTERVIEW: I´LL BE ASKING

YOU SOME QUESTIONS…

IDENTIFY THE NATURE OF THE FACTS:

WOULD YOU LIKE TO TELL ME WHY YOU

ARE HERE TODAY?

SUMMARISING: SO, IF I UNDERSTAND YOU

CORRECTLY… /ALLOW ME TO SUMMARISE WHAT YOU´VE SAID

AVOID DISGRESSIONS: let´s return to the course

of events… ASSESSING THE CASE: I

think we have a good chance of convincing the court that… / As I see it,

we have good reason to be optimistic…

INITIAL INTERVIEW

Describing next moves: Let me go through the file a read through the

contract.

Then, I ´ll prepare the

complaint, which we will file at the end of next week

I ´ll call you next week and let you know how things

look

You´ll hear from me in a few days.

Thank you for entrusting me

with this matter. Goodbye!

TYPES OF BREACH: MATERIAL, IMMATERIAL AND ANTICIPATORY.Breach of contract is a legal cause of

action, in which a binding agreement is not honored by one of the parties to the contract.

One party does not fulfill his contractual promise, or GIVES INFORMATION to the other party that he WILL NOT PERFORM his duty as mentioned in the contract.

ANTICIPATORY BREACH: A party announces his intention not to fulfill

the contract.The non-breaching party can “take the other

party at his word” and consider that the notification releases him from his contractual obligation to perform.

The non – b. party can bring an action for damages.

The second option is to wait until the time when the performance was to take place, still holding the contract as prospective binding.

ANTICIPATORY BREACH IIOther position states that THE ANNOUNCEMENT

OF INTENT TO BREACH should be treated as an offer to rescind.

Not as a breach.Thus the other party would keep the option to

rescind until the date of performance, and the non b. party would have to remain ready to perform, because if it accepted the offer to rescind, that would prevent any recovery.

RELIANCE PRINCIPLE: If a party promises to do s.t. in the future: commits to refrain from doing s.t. that difficults to fulfil his promise.

MINOR OR IMMATERIAL BREACHIn a "minor" breach (a partial breach or immaterial

breach or where there has been substantial performance), the non-breaching party cannot sue for specific performance, and can only sue for actual damages.

A homeowner hires a contractor to install new plumbing. Insists that the pipes, which will ultimately be hidden behind the walls, must be red. The contractor instead uses blue pipes that function just as well. Although the contractor breached the literal terms of the contract, the homeowner cannot ask a court to order the contractor to replace the blue pipes with red pipes.

MATERIAL BREACH Any failure to perform that permits the other

party to the contract to either compel performance, or collect damages because of the breach. I

If the pipe contractor had been instructed to use copper pipes, and used iron pipes that would not last as long as the copper pipes would have lasted, the homeowner can recover the cost of actually correcting the breach - taking out the iron pipes and replacing them with copper pipes.