In a breach of contract lawsuit, the plaintiff (the party who suffered harm) needs to prove that they suffered damages as a result of the defendant’s (the party who breached the contract) failure to fulfill their contractual obligations.
The reason for this is that damages are the legal remedy for a breach of contract. Without damages, there is no legal basis for the plaintiff to recover compensation for the harm suffered. If you cannot prove damages your case will be dismissed even if the defendant defaults in answering the lawsuit.
You can recover damages that ordinarily and naturally flow from the breach of contract provided that the damages you seek are proximate and certain, not remote, speculative, or contingent. A Defendant cannot be held liable for damages that it was not the cause of, and more specifically the proximate cause of. The defendant must be the direct and proximate cause of the breach of contract in order to be liable on a breach of contract claim. You as the plaintiff need to prove to a reasonable degree of certainty that the defendant’s breach caused the injury for which you seek recovery.
In general, damages in a breach of contract case are meant to put the plaintiff in the position they would have been in if the defendant had fulfilled their contractual obligations. There are different types of damages that may be awarded depending on the circumstances, including compensatory damages (which aim to compensate the plaintiff for the actual harm suffered), consequential damages (which cover indirect or secondary losses), and punitive damages (which are meant to punish the defendant for particularly egregious behavior).
In order to prove damages, the plaintiff must present evidence that shows how they were harmed by the defendant’s breach of contract. This could include documentation of financial losses, witness testimony, or expert opinions. It is the plaintiff’s responsibility to establish the amount of damages with reasonable certainty, and to provide evidence to support their claim.
Ultimately, proving damages is an essential element of a breach of contract lawsuit, as it is the means by which the plaintiff can seek compensation for the harm suffered as a result of the defendant’s failure to fulfill their contractual obligations.
