IC breach of contract

[Scott Williams]

Jurisdiction

Oregon

Hi, all

I work in the events industry and for the last year have been under contract with a company to do audio and video work for events. The company I contract with contracts with the client who runs the events to provide all of the equipment and personnel to operate the gear.

One contract was for last fall and a second contract was for 2022. Both contracts include a clause that the contract may be terminated by either party with seven days advance written notice. There are no other references to cancelling or postponing any of the work dates. I live in Oregon, the other company is located in Florida.

On Jan 14, I received an email stating that two of the events scheduled for Jan 21-26 and Feb 11-16 were postponed until this August due to the Omicron surge. The nature of our work means we contract for dates months in advance, so I was unable to find other work during that time frame. No mention was made of terminating my contract and re-writing it to reflect the cancellation and new dates. Both of the cancelled events were to take place in Florida.

I had the same thing happen last September for two other events. I'd have to go back and research the precise dates, but one event was cancelled five days out and the other was maybe 7 or 8 days prior to the scheduled start.

As a starting point, my first two questions are:

1) Are these four cancellations a breach of my contract?

2) If there is a breach, did I have a duty during this time frame to bring up the issue of the contract being breached?

Thanks for taking a look and please let me know if there are any other questions.

Scott

 

[adjusterjack]

1) Are these four cancellations a breach of my contract?

Without reading the entire contract all I can say is this. If the contract didn't specify what happens for you when a gig is cancelled or postponed (like a guarantee of payment), then is is likely no breach.

2) If there is a breach, did I have a duty during this time frame to bring up the issue of the contract being breached?

If there was no breach there was nothing to bring up.

Though I can't imagine why you wouldn't ask the question about getting paid something.

 

[Tax Counsel]

Hi, all
As a starting point, my first two questions are:

1) Are these four cancellations a breach of my contract?

That's not possible to answer with certainty without reading the full contract and knowing more facts, in particular knowing how long the other party knew that the event would have to be postponed and exactly why it had to be postponed (e.g. was there a state or local health order that prevented hosting the event, or did the company simply make that decision itself based on health concerns, or something else). As you got the notice January 14 and the contract only requires 7 days advance notice, that would seem to suggest there is no breach for the February dates. However, that notice may have been one day too late for the January event. In that case there may be a breach for that event unless the cancellation was due to a health order preventing the event from taking place and the other party promptly notified you once it had notice of the order.

2) If there is a breach, did I have a duty during this time frame to bring up the issue of the contract being breached?

Again, the details of the contract and what exactly happened matters. You generally have an obligation to mitigate damages in a contract claim, and failing to reach out to the other party would be a problem if doing that could have helped you mitigate damages in some way.

I think you'd want to consult a Florida attorney who litigates contract disputes to review the contract and give you an opinion as to whether you have something to pursue on this. [/QUOTE]

 

[Scott Williams]

Thanks for the responses, they are greatly appreciated and I've at least got a couple of ideas for a starting point.