You’re a small business owner, and your company manufactures consumer goods. You don’t make the parts and materials yourself, however. Your company is just in charge of the manufacturing side of the operation, and you have parts suppliers that deliver the materials you need. There are contracts in place with all of these suppliers.
Unfortunately, one of your suppliers misses a crucial deadline. You tell them this is a violation of the contract they signed and that you want to proceed with litigation. The supplier does make the delivery, but it’s a week late. They claim they adhered to the contract because you received the parts and materials you paid for. Is this a contract breach or not?
It can still be a violation of the terms
A missed deadline can certainly still be a contract breach. However, it is often considered a minor breach, so you would need to show that there was financial harm to your business to pursue action against the supplier.
With that in mind, it’s important to understand that a missed deadline can cause financial troubles for your business. Say you have your own contracts with retail outlets that are expecting shipments from your business. If the supplier is a week late, you fall behind on your production numbers. This could cause you to violate contracts you have with other businesses, which could in turn cause you to miss out on sales or even lose those contracts entirely. In this sense, the supplier has still violated their contract and caused significant financial harm, even though you received the materials you ordered.
These types of litigation cases can get very complex, so be sure you know what legal steps to take.