Legal Justifications for Contract Termination in Georgia

Repudiation is a form of breach of contract where the breach is sufficiently serious to justify contract termination. Whether the breach was repudiatory in nature (i.e., sufficiently serious) depends on a number of factors, including the degree of financial loss, the amount of benefits that have already been received under the contract, whether the loss can be properly compensated by damages, whether there was simply a miscommunication or mistake, and whether continuance of the contract is likely to lead to another breach.

If there has been repudiatory breach, termination is not required by law— the non-breaching party may choose to affirm or terminate the contract at their own discretion.

If you are currently involved in a contract dispute, or if you have been put in a vulnerable position due to a repudiatory breach by one of the other contracting parties, it may be helpful to contact an experienced Atlanta contract litigation lawyer for further guidance. Your attorney can evaluate the facts of the case and determine how best to resolve the situation in a manner that accomplishes your strategic objectives.

If a contracting party chooses to renounce their contractual obligations — in other words, if they make it reasonably clear that they will not perform material contractual obligations — the non-breaching party is entitled to prematurely terminate their contract to avoid incurring additional damages.

Contracting parties are not expected to perform their obligations under contract no matter the circumstances — in some situations, there are extenuating circumstances that render performance impossible. In Georgia, if one of the contracting parties acts or fails to act, and as a result, performance of your contractual obligations is rendered impossible, you may terminate said contract.

Generally speaking, contracts include language that accounts for the possibility of termination in certain circumstances. For example, you may enter into a contract which allows for contract termination if one of the parties to a contract transfers their duties to another party, or otherwise subcontracts their performance out. Express termination rights may be granted for any number of unique situations. So long as the preconditions are satisfied, the contract may be terminated. It’s worth noting, however, that in some cases the termination may not be enforced (if the provision is deemed unreasonable or unconscionable).

In some contracts, a breach will give the non-breaching party a right to terminate, but only if the breaching party has failed to remedy the breach before a specified deadline. For example, a contract may give a breaching party up to a month to remedy their breach — failing that, the non-breaching party may terminate the contract at their discretion.