Contract law is applicable virtually everywhere. In a contract you have two basic steps: An offer and an acceptance. What is agreed to is what the parties can negotiate.
If you are a party entering into contracts regularly there are some clauses you want in every contract. Here are some of them:
- Venue. Make venue in your county of domicile. If you are in Hugo, require Washington County to be the venue. If you are in White Bear Lake, require Ramsey County to be the venue.
- State, not Federal court. Federal judges are exceptional and the federal court system is exceptional. Even with that, most cases are better-suited state court. And, federal courts do not accept every case. To ensure you have a preferred court, require state court.
- Attempts to resolve pre-litigation. A clause I created a few years ago requires that any dispute must first be brought to the other side's attention. For the next 30 days, the parties must work together to resolve the dispute. This clause has helped litigation be avoided on a number of cases.
- Attorney's fees and costs. If you have to sue the other party, you better plan on either having a contract clause entitling you to recover attorney's fees and costs or you better plan on not recovering them.
Having the above terms in place helps protect you, helps deter litigation from happening, and strengthens your position in litigation. All are good reasons to tweak your contracts to include these clauses.
The material contained herein is provided for informational purposes only and is not legal advice, nor is it a substitute for obtaining legal advice from an attorney. Each situation is unique, and you should not act or rely on any information contained herein without seeking the advice of an experienced attorney. All information contained in links are the property of the linked site.
