BREACH OF CONTRACT |
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Breach of contract is a legal concept in which a binding agreement or bargained-for exchange is not honored by one or more of the parties to the contract by non-performance or interference with the other partys performance.
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DAMAGES |
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In law, damages refers either to the harm suffered by a claimant in a civil action, or to the money paid or awarded to the plaintiff in compensation for such harm.
Generally, there are three kinds of damages: special damages, general damages, and punitive damages. Special damages are the enumerable or quantifiable monetary costs or losses suffered by the plaintiff, or the compensation therefore. For example, medical costs, repair or replacement of damaged property, lost wages, lost earning potential, loss of business, loss of irreplaceable items, loss of support, etc. General damages are items of harm or loss suffered, for which only a subjective value may be attached. Examples of this include personal injury, physical or emotional pain and suffering, loss of companionship, loss of consortium, disfigurement, loss of reputation, loss or impairment of mental or physical capacity, loss of enjoyment of life, etc.
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MEDICO-LEGAL |
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The plaintiff has the burden of proof. Expert witnesses are usually required to testify as to practice standards, while lay witnesses must confine their testimony to facts they perceived with their own senses. To be qualified as an expert, a person must have a sufficient level of education, training, and experience in the relevant field, and it must be shown that their testimony will assist the judge and/or jury in determining a contested issue. The law requires that lay jurors or judges, being untrained in medicine, must accept expert evidence as to whether the provider deviated from the requisite standards but since the plaintiff and the defendant will usually each hire their own experts, there will be conflicting opinions.
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