Breach of contract is a cause of action or claim in civil litigation (lawsuits) that provides the legal basis for a person or entity to recover its damages/losses when another person or entity breaches an enforceable written or verbal agreement (contract) by breaking one or more promises in the agreement.
In North Carolina, a breach of contract occurs when one party fails to fulfill their obligations under a binding agreement, whether the contract is written or verbal. To successfully claim a breach of contract in a civil lawsuit, the plaintiff must establish that a valid contract existed, the plaintiff upheld their end of the contract or had a valid reason for not doing so, the defendant failed to meet their contractual obligations (the breach), and the plaintiff suffered damages as a result of the breach. The types of remedies available for a breach of contract in North Carolina may include compensatory damages to cover the plaintiff's losses, consequential damages for additional losses caused by the breach, and in some cases, specific performance where the court orders the breaching party to fulfill their contractual duties. It's important to note that there are statutes of limitations for filing a breach of contract lawsuit in North Carolina, which is generally three years for written contracts and three years for oral contracts, as per the North Carolina General Statutes (N.C.G.S. § 1-52).