Enforce a Contract; It Can Be Done

Can you legally compel someone to complete his part of the bargain? Or, put another way, if someone refuses to perform a contract, can you take that person to court and get a judge to order him to do what he promised to do?

In most successful breach-of-contract lawsuits, the final court judgment will be an order against the defendant to pay money damages to compensate you for your loss. But there are times when a judge will order that a contract be performed as originally promised. Those sorts of judgments are more difficult to obtain. The legal doctrine is called “specific performance of a contract.”

Let’s look at some examples to understand the basics of this complicated area of law. Imagine that you entered into a contract with a builder to add a bedroom to your home, but before work begins, the builder--a disreputable sort--finds another job that will be more lucrative. He breaches your contract. You can sue and collect the money you’ve already paid him, plus what you’ll need to finish the bedroom, and incidental costs. But can you sue and compel him to finish the work himself?

Probably not, because your “legal” remedy, collecting damages, is adequate to compensate you for your loss. (With the money you win, you can hire another contractor to build the bedroom.) It is only when the remedy of damages is deemed legally inadequate that you will be able to enforce specific performance of the contract.

The general rule of thumb is that specific performance is awarded when the subject of a contract is unique or irreplaceable. Suppose you entered into a contract with an art collector to buy a Picasso, but then the seller changed his mind. In that situation, because the painting is unique, and can’t be replaced by mere money damages, you would be able to sue for specific performance and force the seller to complete his part of the bargain.

For these purposes, the law pretends that any piece of land is unique. Thus, if a seller of real estate backs out of a contract, the buyer can sue for specific performance even though the buyer could arguably be adequately compensated by receiving damages to pay for a similar piece of land.

However, a contract for personal services is not specifically enforceable, even if the services are unique.

In a famous English case in 1852, an opera singer agreed to sing at a particular theater, and nowhere else. But when she was unavailable to sing, the court refused to order her to do so, even though her singing was presumably unique. On the other hand, the court was willing to enter an injunction prohibiting her from singing anywhere else during the period of the contract.

Courts also try to steer clear of ordering specific performance when the court would have to oversee a series of acts requiring continuous supervision, such as a contract for construction.

As with most legal matters, there are a host of exceptions and specifics that apply in different situations. But it is worth remembering that you may not always be able to force the other party to a contract to do what he promised to do.