Punitive Damages for Breach of Contract: What's so Special About Contract Claims?

Specific Performance versus Damages for Breach of Contract

When would parties to a contract want performance to be specifically required, and when would they prefer payment of money damages to be the remedy for breach? This fundamental question is studied here, and an answer is provided that is based on a simple distinction between contracts to produce goods and contracts to convey property. Setting aside qualifications, the conclusion for breach of co...

Boundaries of Extracompensatory Relief for Abusive Breach of Contract, The

Contractual Performance, Corrective Justice, and Disgorgement for Breach of Contract

This paper is about the remedy of disgorgement for breach of contract. In it I argue for two conclusions. I first argue that, prima facie at least, disgorgement damages for breach of contract present something of a puzzle. But second, I argue that if we pay close attention to the notion of contractual performance, this puzzle can be resolved in a way that is consistent with principles of correc...

Remedies for breach of contract under the CISG

In this essay, I survey the three main remedial categories of the Convention on the International Sale of Goods (CISG) [specific performance, money damages, and goods-oriented remedies such as rejection and cure] from the vantage point of the economic literature on contract remedies, and discuss whether the rules set by the CISG are economically suitable for the particular transactions it gover...

How to Defend Punitive Damages Claims Effectively—and Maybe Successfully

A PUNITIVE damage award in a highprofile case is a corporate defense counsel’s worst nightmare. Consider, as examples, • $2.7 million punitive damages against McDonald’s Corp. for burns a customer suffered from a coffee spill; • $7.1 million for a secretary who prevailed in a sexual harassment case; • $101 million against General Motors in a design defect case; • $125 million against a pharmace...