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Introduction

Read the overview below and complete the activities that follow.

Remedies for Breach of Contract

In the case below, a municipality backs out of a contract to have a bridge built. The contractor has already begun production and incurred costs.

CONCEPT REVIEW:

The overall goal of damages in breach of contract suits is to put the parties where they should have been if the contract had been performed. But the solution simply ordering the parties to perform is rarely enough. Damages vary greatly based on the nature of the contract itself, as well as the extent to which performance is underway.

Remedies

Read the short case below, and select the best answer to each question that follows.

The Randolph Bridge Company (RBC) agrees to build a suspension bridge in the city of Detroit. Detroit plans to pay RBC $50 million. RBC's anticipated costs, including labor, materials and so on, are $40 million. Construction is anticipated to take six months. One month into the project, RBC has put $10 million into the project. Detroit tells RBC at this point that it no longer wants the bridge, and plans to breach the contract.

Which of the following is an accurate statement?

Multiple Choice

• This is a quasi-contract case.
• This is a tort case.
• Detroit's disavowal of the contract gives RBC the right to sue immediately.
• This is a promissory estoppel case.
• RBC will recover nothing.