Based in Houston, Charles Maurice Stam serves as an associate attorney with Lightfoot, Franklin & White LLC. A member of the Litigation Section of the State Bar of Texas, Charles M. Stam is particularly skilled in litigation related to corporate recoveries, among other practice areas.

1. Three Types of Breaches of
Contract
Charles Maurice Stam

2. Based in Houston, Charles
Maurice Stam serves as an
associate attorney with
Lightfoot, Franklin & White LLC.
A member of the Litigation
Section of the State Bar of Texas,
Charles M. Stam is particularly
skilled in litigation related to
corporate recoveries, among
other practice areas.
Photo by Giammarco Boscaro on Unsplash

3. For businesses facing challenges due
to wrongful or illegal conduct,
litigation is often necessary to recover
damages and resolve disputes.
Moreover, companies also use this
route to enforce contracts and address
breaches of contract that incur heavy
and moderate losses. The
circumstances and severity of these
situations can vary widely, and
breaches of contract fall into several
categories from a legal standpoint.
The three primary ones include:
Photo by Hunters Race on Unsplash

4. Material breach
Material contract breaches occur when one party’s willful failure to uphold their end of
the agreement goes against the purpose of the contract and results in significant
ramifications for the other party. One example is a business that isn’t paid for services
rendered. Material breaches entitle the affected organization to pursue court action in
order to recover any direct and indirect damages and can free it from contractual
obligations.

5. Anticipatory breach
In an anticipatory breach, the breach has not transpired, but evidence exists to suggest
that one party is unlikely to or doesn’t intend to fulfill their end of the agreement
within an allotted period. This can also occur when the party provides verbal or written
admittance that they cannot execute the contract’s terms. For a business, this might
involve a customer who is unable to meet a payment deadline or who discloses that
they lack the funds to do so.

6. Minor breach
Also referred to as a partial breach, this occurs when the contract’s conditions are only
partially met. This is restricted to minor infractions wherein the remaining or unfulfilled
obligations are easily remedied, such as work that has been erroneously completed or
a late delivery that results in minor financial consequences. In these cases, the affected
party can sue to rectify errors or to pursue compensation for money that has been lost.