According to the Judicial Education Center, what are five defenses to a breach o

There are five valid defenses to a breach of contract claim. The first one is the “contract would violate public policy.” For example, if a contract was created for a band to play in a public setting after the mandated quiet hours without proper permission being granted ahead of time the contract could be breached.

Another valid defense is if “the contract has become impossible or the purpose of the contract has become frustrated.” An example of this would be if I contracted someone to tear down an old building. But before he could do it a tornado came through and demolished it. The contract would then be voided and not enforceable because the contracted task can’t be performed.

A third defense is “the contract lacks consideration.” For instance, I can’t make a contract for someone to pay me $1,000 a month for a year without putting into the contract some type of consideration of what I will do for that individual in exchange for the money. Basically a contract can’t be one-sided.

A forth defense would be if there was a “mutual mistake in the contract.” If we agreed that you would pay me $100 for a photograph but the contract stated the amount was $1,000 then it would be voided because it was a mutual mistake and a new contract could be drawn up.

A final defense would be if “the contract contains a unilateral mistake that was material to the agreement and the other party knew or should have known of the mistake.” For instance if I intended to purchase a U.S. made Nikon camera but the seller was going to give me a foreign or knock off version of the camera that looks exactly the same without me knowing then I could breach the contract. Because the vendor knew that I wasn’t getting the same product that I had asked for but he was giving it to me anyway.