Protect Your Business Relationships From Tortious Interference

A competitor or third party should not be able to sabotage your business by interfering with your contracts or by wrongfully preventing you from entering into a business relationship. Tortious interference occurs when someone intentionally and improperly induces another party to breach an existing contract with you, or when they prevent you from obtaining a business opportunity or relationship that would otherwise come to you. These are not accidents or the natural result of fair competition—they are deliberate acts designed to harm your business. At Sverd Law Firm, we have successfully represented clients whose contracts have been breached at the instigation of a malicious third party, and whose business opportunities have been wrongfully intercepted or destroyed.

Interference With Existing Contracts

When someone actively persuades a party to breach an existing contract with you, you have a claim for tortious interference. This might occur when a competitor calls your supplier and convinces them to break their agreement with you in favor of the competitor. It could involve a former business partner encouraging your key employees to leave and join their new venture. The wrongdoer need not have contractual privity with you—that is, they need not be a party to your contract. What matters is that they knew of the contract and intentionally acted to destroy it. The law recognizes that this conduct causes real harm and provides a remedy: damages for the profits you lost, the cost of finding a replacement contract, and in some cases, punitive damages where the interference was particularly egregious.

Interference With Prospective Economic Advantage

The law also protects you even before a contract is fully formed. If you are in active negotiations or in a position to reasonably expect a business relationship, a third party may not wrongfully interfere with those prospective opportunities. For example, if someone spreads false information about your company to a potential client you were about to sign, or if they encourage a prospective partner to reject your deal through fraud or intimidation, you have a claim. The standard is somewhat different from interference with existing contracts—the plaintiff must show that the interference was improper and that the defendant acted with knowledge that harm would result—but the remedy is equally important.

Let Us Handle Your Case

Tortious interference claims require swift action and skilled litigation to preserve evidence and hold the wrongdoer accountable. If a competitor or third party has interfered with your contracts or business opportunities, email us to schedule your initial consultation today.