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Breach of Contract Damages In Georgia
As an Atlanta business attorney Atlanta business attorney who specializes in breach of contract breach of contract matters, often the most important questions I hear time and again from clients is what are my available damages due to a breach of contract. Unfortunately, this is not necessarily an easy question to answer without knowing the specifics of the contract at issue and the breach you are wanting to pursue. However, that being said, there are some general breach of contract principles that may help.
First, punitive damages, damages to punish the wrongdoer, are not recoverable in breach of contract actions. These damages are left to tort actions such as personal injury claims or business disputes where there are tort claims involved, such as tortious interference with business relationships.
In breach of contract actions, Georgia law seeks to place the parties back in the same position they would have been in had the contract not been breached. This means the damages to the non-breaching party is that which would compensate the injured party for what they would have received had the contract not been breached or in other words, compensation for the loss caused by the breach.
In addition, the non-breaching party may have a right to consequential damages which occurred as a result of the breach. Consequential damages are damages which, while somewhat dependent on other factors than just the breach, are nonetheless the result of the breach. These damages cannot be based on pure speculation but also do not have to be absolutely certain (i.e. lost revenue because of breach).
As an Atlanta breach of contract lawyer Atlanta breach of contract lawyer, reviewing the contract, the facts surrounding the breach and what remedies are available to the client as a result are the first steps in properly representing individuals and business owners in Georgia.
Atlanta Business Attorney: Types of LLC Structures in Georgia
There a many different types of limited liability company structures depending on whether it is a single or multi-member LLC, how you want the company to be managed and how you would like it to be treated for tax purposes. The types of Georgia limited liability corporations include:
Single Member Structures:
1. Single-member LLC owned by an individual and taxed as a sole proprietorship;
2. Single-member LLC owned by an individual and taxed under Subchapter S (avoids double taxation issues);
3. Single-member LLC owned by an individual and taxed under Subchapter C (LLC taxed as corporation and then members taxed on distributions);
4. Single-member LLC owned by an entity and treated as a disregarded entity for tax purposes;
5. Single-member LLC owned by an entity and taxed under Subchapter S as a qualified subchapter S subsidiary; and
6. Single-member LLC owned by an entity taxable under Subchapter C.
Multi-Member Structures:
1. Multi-member LLC with a simple general partnership management structure and taxed under Subchapter K;
2. Multi-member LLC with a simple general partnership management structure and taxed under Subchapter S;
3. Multi-member LLC with a complex general partnership management structure and taxed under Subchapter K;
4. Multi-member LLC with a complex general partnership management structure and taxed under Subchapter S;
5. Multi-member LLC with a simple limited partnership management structure, controlled by managers, and taxed under Subchapter K;
6. Multi-member LLC with a simple limited partnership management structure, controlled by managers, and taxed under Subchapter S;
7. Multi-member LLC with a simple limited partnership management structure, controlled by managers, and taxed under Subchapter C;
8. Multi-member LLC with a complex general partnership management structure and taxed under Subchapter K;
9. Multi-member LLC with a simple limited partnership management structure, controlled by members, and taxed under Subchapter K;
10. Multi-member LLC with a simple limited partnership management structure, controlled by managers, and taxed under Subchapter S;
11. Multi-member LLC with a simple limited partnership management structure, controlled by managers, and taxed under Subchapter C;
12. Multi-member LLC with a complex limited partnership management structure, controlled by managers, and taxed under Subchapter K;
13. Multi-member LLC with a complex limited partnership management structure, controlled by managers, and taxed under Subchapter S;
14. Multi-member LLC with a complex limited partnership management structure, controlled by managers, and taxed under Subchapter C;
15. Multi-member LLC with a corporate management structure taxed under Subchapter K;
16. Multi-member LLC with a corporate management structure taxed under Subchapter S;
17. Multi-member LLC with a corporate management structure taxed under Subchapter C;
18. Series LLC.
If you would like to speak to one of our Atlanta business formation or business litigation attorneys feel free to give us a call at (770) 887-3261 or visit our website for more information. Please also feel free to send us a confidential e-mail through our Web Site “Contact Us" form. Boling Rice, LLC has three conveniently located offices in Atlanta, Alpharetta and Cumming, Georgia. Our Firm represents clients throughout the Metro Atlanta area, including: Atlanta, Alpharetta, Cumming, Roswell, Sandy Springs, Decatur, Lawrenceville, Marietta, Smyrna, Duluth, Acworth, Fayetteville, Norcross, Canton, John's Creek; DeKalb County, Fulton County, Cobb County, Forsyth County, Gwinnett County, Fayette County, Clayton County, Dawson County and Cherokee County.
What To Do When Your Business Has Been Sued Or Is In A Business Dispute.
Business disputes are an inevitable part of running a business. The question often arises from clients having been served with a lawsuit what they should do to best position themselves in defense of the action. Below are several suggestions that will help you prepare for the next time you are sued. These suggestions also apply to business disputes that have not yet resulted in litigation, yet.
1. Contact Your Attorney Immediately: You do not want to wait one day more than necessary to contact your attorney to tell him or her that you or your company has been served with a lawsuit. In Georgia, you have thirty (30) days to file an Answer to a Complaint from the date you were originally served with the lawsuit. Should you or your company fail to do so within thirty (30) days, you have fifteen (15) additional days to file an Answer before you or your company can no longer fully defend itself. However, waiting this long requires that you pay costs to the court. There is no advantage in waiting that long and certainly no reason to have to pay costs to the court. Immediately inform you attorney of the day you or your company was served so he or she can diary the due date for filing the Answer.
In Georgia, a plaintiff can serve a company with a lawsuit by serving one of several people which can potential create an issue for you in determining on what date it was served with the Complaint. If you hire an outside company to serve as your business' registered agent then you will not have problem as the company will be served nine times out of ten. However, if you select someone within your company to be the registered agent, you need to remind this person that it is imperative that he or she make note of the day when served and to immediately notify you or someone else elected to be responsible for contacting your attorney. In Georgia, plaintiffs can also serve any of the company's officers with suit papers. It is thus important that you express to all of your officers what they should do if and when served with suit papers. It is ultimately very important to tell your attorney who was served with the suit papers so he or she knows whether a serve of process defense will be necessary. Plaintiffs often inappropriately serve a front desk secretary with suit papers, an employee who is not an officer of the company and not an agent assigned by the company to received service of process.
2. Get Facts and Evidence: It is always advisable that you keep detailed records throughout the course of your business relationships with clients, customers, partners, and vendors. If a dispute arises or you are sued, you want to be able to provide your attorney with detailed evidence of the agreements and most importantly, the communications you have had with the other party. If do a lot of communicating over the phone, make it a habit to keep notes on any important conversations at or near the time they occurred. More often than not, litigation occurs years after the underlying events that caused the dispute in the first place occurred. Being able to look back at tangible evidence of what occurred, created at the time, will help your attorney defend the business. When you make notes of important conversations, it is also important to note who you were talking to and the identity of others involved in the transaction or conversation. Later this will help your attorney identify witnesses that may be important. Years later key employees or agents of the other party that you were dealing with may be long gone.
3. Keep Lines of Communication Open: Despite the differences you may have with the party you are in a dispute with or has already sued you our your business, keeping the lines of communication open is always advisable. More often than not, business litigation matters or disputes end in a compromise and settlement of the dispute. Having kept the lines of communication open with the opposing party before you hire an attorney and through your attorney, during the litigation will help facilitate a beneficial compromise before having to spend the money to try the case to a judge or jury. It is always better to have to try a case because the other party is the one who is being unreasonable. Litigation is expensive, whether you are on the right side of the law or not, and any time you can reasonable conclude a dispute short of going all the way through a trial, the better off you and your business will be.
However, sometimes it just does not make sense to settle and your attorney will be helpful to you in making that decision.
If you would like to speak to one of our Atlanta business litigation attorneys feel free to give us a call at (770) 887-3162 or visit our website for more information. Please also feel free to send us a confidential e-mail through our Web Site “Contact Us" form. Boling Rice, LLC has four conveniently located offices in Atlanta, Alpharetta and Cumming, Georgia. Our Firm represents clients throughout the Metro Atlanta area, including: Atlanta, Alpharetta, Cumming, Roswell, Sandy Springs, Decatur, Lawrenceville, Marietta, Smyrna, Duluth, Acworth, Fayetteville, Norcross, Canton, John's Creek; DeKalb County, Fulton County, Cobb County, Forsyth County, Gwinnett County, Fayette County, Clayton County, Dawson County and Cherokee County.
Atlanta Business Dispute Attorneys Discuss Parternship Dispute Issues
A frequent scenario we see as Atlanta business dispute attorneys is a partner in a business coming to us after having been left holding the bag as it pertains to all of the day-to-day responsibilities of running the business--accountability for debts, liabilities or problems. The other partner always seems to just fade away gradually from all responsibility to the detriment of the other partner's livelihood, money, family, and credit.
Georgia law views business partners much like a married couple. Each owes a fiduciary duty to the other with regard to all aspects of running the business. This duty is one of utmost trust and good faith, meaning that in every decision made and action taken by your business partner, he must have had you, his partner, and the partnership itself, in mind and felt it was in your best interest in deciding how to act. This is a very high standard of care that can and often is quickly breached by business partners who get greedy or even just apathetic.
Partners are generally jointly and severally liable for the partnership's responsibilities, debts and liabilities. Therefore, it is recommended that you speak to a partnership dispute attorney first before deciding how to handle your partnership dispute.
If you would like to speak to one of our partnership dispute attorneys, feel free to give us a call at (770) 887-3162 or visit our website for more information. Please also feel free to send us a confidential e-mail through our Web Site “Contact Us" form. Boling Rice, LLC has three conveniently located offices in Atlanta, Alpharetta and Cumming, Georgia. Our Firm represents clients throughout the Metro Atlanta area, including: Atlanta, Alpharetta, Cumming, Roswell, Sandy Springs, Decatur, Lawrenceville, Marietta, Smyrna, Duluth, Acworth, Fayetteville, Norcross, Canton, John's Creek; DeKalb County, Fulton County, Cobb County, Forsyth County, Gwinnett County, Fayette County, Clayton County, Dawson County and Cherokee County.
Atlanta, Georgia Business Attorneys Discuss Alternative Business Dispute Methods
ATLANTA, GEORGIA, BUSINESS ATTORNEYS WHO KEEP OPTIONS OPEN FOR THEIR CLIENTS INVOLVED IN A BUSINESS DISPUTE – FROM ATLANTA TO ...
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Welcome to Boling Rice's business law blog. Here you will find various articles on business law topics that will
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