Atlanta Business Attorney Blog

Georgia Business Litigation: Definitions of Common Terms associated with Business Law and Litigation:

Affirmative Defenses: The defendants defenses to the allegations in the complaint included in the defendant’s Answer filed with the court.

Answer: A document used to respond to the complaint or petition. Answers usually admit or deny specific allegations or claims in the document being answered. Also called a response.

Appeal: A procedure to ask a higher court to review the ruling of a lower court.

Cause of Action: Failure to perform a legal obligation to do, or refrain from doing, some act that gives rise to liability for which a plaintiff seeks a legal remedy. Also called a claim.

Complaint: The document filed by the plaintiff that initiates a lawsuit. The complaint provides information regarding what harm the plaintiff is alleging and what relief the plaintiff is seeking.

Counterclaim: The claim asserted by the defendant against the plaintiff after the plaintiff files the initial lawsuit, or complaint, against the defendant. The counterclaim is asserted in the same lawsuit and is often filed with the defendant’s answer to the complaint.

Cross-Claim: In a lawsuit where there are multiple defendants, a claim or cause of action filed by one defendant against another defendant.

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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.

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