Damages for Breach of Contract in Georgia:
Do you want to file a lawsuit in Georgia for breach of contract? Are you being sued in Georgia for breach of contract? If so, one of the most important considerations you may have is how a Georgia court would assess damages either for or against you.
The sensationalized litigation stories in the news would lead one to believe that there are hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of dollars at stake in any given law suit. Generally, these large awards are the result of an award of “punitive damages.” Punitive damages are essentially awarded to punish the wrongdoer. Today, punitive damages are often capped. Nonetheless, punitive damages are not available in a law suit for breach of contract.
In awarding damages for a breach of contract claim, Georgia courts attempt to place the non-breaching part in the same position it would have been in if the contract had not been breached. The measure of breach of contract damages is the amount that would compensate the injured party for the loss which fulfillment of the contract would have prevented or the loss that the breach caused.
“Consequential damages” are damages that occur as the collateral result of a breach, even though they are to some extent dependent on other circumstances. The issue of whether consequential damages that result from a breach of contract are recoverable is more complicated and should be discussed with your attorney.
