How to Enforce a Contract in Oklahoma Courts

If your contract is for payment of money, you may go to court to recover the money. If your contract is for furnishing goods, you may (in some cases) recover the goods. If you have a real estate contract, you may be able to get a court to transfer the land to you. If the contract is for labor, a court may not order someone to work for you, but a judge may order the other person to compensate you for the work not done. In all contract cases, the court where you may file depends on the value of the contract, and where the parties live.

If the contract is for payment of money

If the contract is for payment of money, you may file suit, and ask the judge to order them to pay you. If you can prove that you have performed your end of the contract, and that the other person owes you money, then the judge should order them to pay you.

If you’re seeking to recover less than $10,000, then you may file suit in small claims court. Small claims court is much cheaper and quicker than district court. Also, small claims court is simple, so that most people can go to small claims court without lawyers. I’ve had a number of clients who (when someone owed them slightly more than $10,000) chose instead to file in small claims court, and forget the rest that the person owed them, so that their case would be simpler. To read about small claims court, read my posts here, here, and here.

If you’re seeking to recover more than $10,000, then you must file in district court.

If you’re seeking to recover more than $75,000, and the opposing party lives in a different state than you do, then you may file your case in state or federal court. If you file in state court, then your opponent may take the case out of state court, and have it heard in federal court.

If you and the opposing party live in the same state (or if the case is for less than $75,000, regardless of the parties’ residence) then you must file in state court.

If the contract requires the person to give you goods

If the contract is for exchange of goods, then you may, in certain cases, be allowed to file a suit for “specific performance” of the contract. If you file for specific performance of the contract, you may ask the judge to order the other person to give you the exact goods that the contract specifies.

Generally, you’re allowed to file for specific performance if the goods are unique. For example: suppose someone offered to sell you a dress that Princess Diana once wore (and one of her most famous dresses is about to go up for auction). In this case, the dress is unique, and another dress wouldn’t replace it, so you would be able to sue for specific performance, and recover the specific dress.

If, on the other hand, someone offered to sell you one hundred apples, you probably can’t get specific performance and require the person to give you the exact same apples. Apples are (to use the legal term) “fungible”, meaning they can be exchanged for other apples.

If the contract is for goods, you may also file an action in replevin. In a replevin suit, you ask the judge to send a sheriff to recover the property and give it to you. To read more about replevin, click here.

The jurisdictional rules for recovering goods are the same as the jurisdictional rules for recovering money: if the case is for less than $10,000, you may file in small claims court. If the case is for more than $10,000, you must file in district court. If the case is for more than $75,000, and you and the other person live in different states, you may file in either state or federal court, but if you file in state court, the other person may remove the case to federal court.

If the contract requires the other person to give you land

If the contract is for land, then you may file a suit for specific performance, because land is unique. You may ask the judge to sign an order conveying the land to you. You may not sue in small claims court to recover land (even if the land is worth less than $10,000.) However, if the land is worth more than $75,000, and you and the other person live in different states, then you may sue in either state or federal court. But if the land value exceeds $75,000, and you and your opponent live in different states and you file in state court, then your opponent may remove the case to federal court.

If the contract requires the person to work for you

If someone has breached a contract for labor, you may not ask a judge to order the person to work for you. Why? The Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution prohibits “slavery or involuntary servitude”, and courts have held that forcing someone to work constitutes involuntary servitude.

However, you may ask the court to order the other party to pay you compensation for his failure to do the work. For example, if you have paid someone $5,000 to repair your roof, and they don’t do any work, then you may sue them to recover the $5,000.

The jurisdictional rules for recovering on a contract for labor are the same as for other contracts: if you want to sue for less than $10,000, you may sue in small claims court. If you’re suing for more than $10,000, you must file in district court. If you’re suing a resident of another state for more than $75,000, you may file in either state or federal court, but if you file in state court, your adversary may remove the case to federal court.

How Civil Lawsuits Work

In this post I’ve provided an overview of how civil lawsuits work. In this post and this post I’ve describe specifics of contract lawsuits.

Before you file a lawsuit, be warned: lawsuits can be very time-consuming, emotionally draining, and expensive. I often counsel clients to try to avoid lawsuits whenever possible. In my posts here and here I’ve written of the dangers and problems in civil lawsuits.

If you’re the victim of a breach of contract, you may want to try to settle your case out of court. There are many ways to settle out of court; one successful way is mediation; I’ve written about mediation here.

Would you like to know more about enforcing a contract? Contact the Persaud Law Office

At the Persaud Law Office, we’ve helped many people enforce contracts. If you have questions, contact us today.