In essence, contracts are a series of promises between the parties to the contract. Each party promises to give something in return for the other party’s performance. When one of the promises between the parties is broken a breach of contract has likely occurred.
New Jersey Assemblyman Robert Schroeder has recently been sued for breach of contract. This is just one of many legal issues Schroeder is currently facing. The New York based company that is suing Schroeder claims that entered into contracts for short-term loans but never really meant to pay the loans back.
According to the company, Schroeder approached them in June 2012 asking for a $100,000 loan. Under the terms of the contract, the loan had an interest rate of 35 percent and was due to be paid by the end of Aug. 2012. Furthermore, the company claims that on Aug. 28, 2012, Schroeder gave the company $120,000 check, but it bounced three days later.
In the suit, the company is asking for both punitive and compensatory damages. In total, the company is asking for $135,000. The Assemblyman has not responded to the allegations in the suit.
Before damages can be determined in a breach of contract case, the court must first decide if a breach of contract actually took place. The court will determine if a breach of contract took place by examining the terms of the contract. If the terms are clearly written or stated, then the court should have little difficulty determining what was expected from each party and whether each party held up their end of the bargain.
However, if contract terms are poorly written, unorganized, difficult to understand or are missing terms then the court may have a more difficult and complex case. In these types of situations, there can be fighting over what specific terms mean in addition to whether they were fulfilled.
Source: The Record, “Assemblyman Robert Schroeder faces 2 more lawsuits,” Chris Harris, April 18, 2013
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