Many contract violations simply involve a delivery not being made or services not being rendered. A business may have put in an order from a supplier that never showed up at the loading dock, for instance.
The contract is violated because the other party didn’t fulfill their obligations, and the company that put in the order may need to consider legal action if they also lost sales because of this breakdown in the supply chain.
But there are also cases where a contract could technically be fulfilled, but the timing is off. This may still be a violation of the contract, even in situations where the other party claims that they fulfilled that contract.
Why does timing matter to a contract?
Timing is very important, especially when considering a supply chain issue. For instance, a manufacturer may contact a parts supplier and say that they need a new shipment in two weeks, on a Monday. The supplier says that won’t be a problem and takes on the job.
But the parts don’t show up until Friday. The supplier says that they still fulfilled the contract and shipped out all of the parts and supplies, so they deserve to be paid. But the manufacturer says that they just lost an entire week of productivity because the shipment was so late. They say that this is still a violation of the contract and still caused them financial harm, even though they eventually did get the material.
A situation like this can get very complicated and there’s a lot of money on the line, so make sure you know about your legal options.