A distributor fails to pay for delivered goods. A contractor abandons the site half-way through the works. When one party does not perform its side of a bargain, the question that follows is practical: what can the injured party actually recover? Kenyan law offers a set of remedies whose selection shapes both the strategy and the eventual outcome.
What can an injured party claim?
- Damages, compensating for the loss actually suffered from the breach.
- Specific performance, where an award of money would not adequately remedy the breach.
- An injunction, restraining a party from acting in breach of the contract.
- Rescission, unwinding the contract where the basis of the bargain has failed.
How are damages assessed?
The guiding principle is compensation: the claimant should, so far as money can achieve it, be placed in the position it would have occupied had the contract been performed. Losses must be proved rather than estimated, and the claimant is expected to mitigate, taking reasonable steps to limit the loss instead of allowing it to accumulate. The contract itself may fix the measure of damages, and interest and costs are matters the court determines in the exercise of its jurisdiction. The formalities of contract and the statutory framework around them can be consulted through Kenya Law.
Should you claim, or negotiate first?
Litigation is one instrument among several. A demand supported by the documents, delivered with a realistic deadline, resolves a substantial share of commercial breaches before any filing is made. Where negotiation fails, the remedy selected should match the commercial objective: recovery of a sum due calls for different steps from those needed to preserve a supply relationship worth keeping, and the choice should be made deliberately. Evidence gathered early, from correspondence to delivery notes, usually decides the claim as much as the law does.
The firm advises on claims arising from breach of contract through its contract practice and represents clients in negotiated resolutions and in proceedings through its dispute resolution team, matching the remedy to the objective rather than to habit.
For guidance on your specific situation, contact CS Advocates LLP , call, WhatsApp, or book a confidential consultation at our Westlands, Nairobi office.