Contract Dispute Lawyer in Fargo

Contracts are at the very heart of business law, governing the rights and obligations that participating parties have for one another. However, while their terms are literally rendered in black and white, disputes can arise when parties have differing interpretations of contractual language or when one party violates a contract’s terms. These disputes can cause significant business disruptions, potentially jeopardizing a party’s legal and financial interests.

Have you found yourself in a contract dispute? If so, you need experienced legal counsel to help you protect your rights and resolve the matter fairly. The business law attorneys with Kennelly Business Law have for years been helping clients in the Fargo-Moorhead area, Valley City, and Wahpeton, and our eastern North Dakota roots stretch back generations. Contact us today for an initial consultation with one of our contract dispute lawyers, and let’s discuss your matter in confidence.

Common Causes of Contract Disputes

Disputes between contractual parties can arise for various reasons. Some of the most frequent causes of contract disputes include:

Breaches of contract: Contractual breaches can involve failure to deliver promised goods or services, delayed or partial performance, non-payment or delayed payment, delivery of defective work, or violations of other contractual terms like confidentiality or indemnification provisions.
Ambiguous or poorly drafted contract language: Disputes can arise when contracts contain vague or ambiguous language or fail to address aspects of the parties’ relationship, which can lead to conflicting understandings of the parties’ respective rights and obligations or disagreements over how to resolve a situation when the contract does not address it.
Attempted terminations: Conflicts may occur when a party seeks to terminate a contract early, especially if the parties dispute whether their contract allows for termination or whether a party has satisfied the conditions for termination.
Alleged fraud or misrepresentation: Disputes can also arise when one party believes that a counterparty induced them to enter the contract due to misrepresentations or fraudulent conduct.

Types of Contract Disputes We Handle

At Kennelly Business Law, our contracts attorneys have extensive experience advising and advocating for clients throughout Fargo, Valley City, and Wahpeton, ND. We handle cases involving:

Business-to-business contracts, including vendor/supplier agreements, licensing agreements, joint venture agreements, franchise agreements, and master services contracts
Employment contracts, which can include compensation agreements, equity compensation agreements, restrictive covenant agreements, invention assignment agreements, and severance agreements
Real estate contracts, including purchase and sale contracts and commercial leases
Commercial agreements, such as loan or financing agreements or payment processing agreements

Legal Remedies in Contract Disputes

Parties can seek various remedies for losses caused by a breach of contract or other alleged misconduct, including:

Compensatory damages: Contract disputants may seek to recover compensation for losses directly arising from a breach of a contract, such as the cost of obtaining replacement performance or fixing defective work under a contract.
Consequential damages: Parties may also seek compensation for indirect yet foreseeable losses that might result from a breach of contract, such as lost profits, lost sales, or loss of business goodwill.
Liquidated damages: Sometimes, the circumstances of a transaction make it impractical to accurately calculate the losses that may result from a breach of contract. In these cases, parties may negotiate a liquidated damages provision in their agreement, which provides a rough estimation of those losses and what compensation should entail.

A contract may also include provisions that provide parties with remedies for a breach, such as:

Acceleration clauses, which allow a party owed payments under a contract to demand payment of the outstanding balance of the contract price
Indemnification provisions, which provide a party with a contractual right to demand reimbursement from a counterparty for specific losses identified by the contract
Fee-shifting clauses, which give a party the right to obtain an award of legal fees and expenses incurred in pursuing a contract lawsuit

Resolving Contract Disputes

There are several ways that parties to a contract dispute may attempt to resolve the matter. For example, they might start with informal negotiations, in which they discuss solutions for resolving the dispute that may involve amending the contract or reaching a settlement to compensate one party for losses arising from another party’s breach of contract.

Contracts often include alternative dispute resolution provisions that require parties to submit disputes to mediation or arbitration. In mediation, parties negotiate a settlement to their dispute with the assistance of a neutral third party who helps both sides assess the strengths and weaknesses of their respective positions and suggests possible solutions for a settlement. In arbitration, parties agree to have an arbitrator or panel of arbitrators issue a decision after hearing the parties’ respective cases. This decision may be either binding or non-binding, depending on the terms of the contract or what the parties agreed to prior to entering arbitration.

In some cases, and particularly if the above methods fail, a party may file a lawsuit to resolve a contract dispute and obtain financial or equitable relief from the courts.

Why Choose the Contract Attorney from the Fargo Law Firm of Kennelly Business Law?

Kennelly Business Law serves clients from our office locations in Fargo, Valley City, and Wahpeton, helping them resolve even the most heated, intractable contract disputes. Turn to our Fargo business litigation lawyers for help because:

Our attorneys have earned ongoing recognition for their work on behalf of our clients. Attorney Chris Kennelly has received listings in North Dakota Super Lawyers from 2023 through 2025, along with the highest AV Preeminent rating from the Martindale-Hubbell review service. Attorney Ben Williams has also earned listings as a Super Lawyers Rising Star for 2021 through 2024, and attorney Jeff Gunkelman received a listing as a Rising Star for 2022.
Our lawyers call North Dakota home, and our families have lived here for generations. We come from a long line of owners and operators of North Dakota businesses, and we have chosen to dedicate our careers to serving North Dakota companies and the people who run them.
Our law firm works hard to earn the trust of each client we represent. Our dedication to excellence has led many of our clients to return to our firm over and over for help with their ongoing legal needs. Our clients choose to work with us because of our reliability, trustworthiness, knowledge, and empathy.

Contact Our Business Law Firm for Help in Fargo, Valley City, or Wahpeton

When a disagreement with a counterparty to a contract escalates into a serious dispute, your company needs experienced counsel and advocacy to protect its financial and legal interests. Contact Kennelly Business Law today for a confidential consultation with a knowledgeable business lawyer serving eastern North Dakota and western Minnesota, and let’s discuss your matter together.

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