vendor missing delivery deadline....what are my legal recourses?

[graymonkey1]

IL.
my colleague and i own and operate a small manufacturing business in IL. we submitted a purchase order to a tube manufacturer to produce our tubes for our products. they gave us written confirmation of purchase order, receipt of our $, and run date for our tubes. we have based much of our business around this date. now vendor says that they can't make date that they originally gave us. this will negatively impact our business tremendously. what recourse do we have to MAKE them adhere to the original date they gave us to manufacturer our tubes? if they dont, can we sue for lost business? or negative impact on our business?
obviously, these instances behoove us to create a risk management plan, but in the meantime, do we have any options?

 

[divgradcurl]

IL.
my colleague and i own and operate a small manufacturing business in IL. we submitted a purchase order to a tube manufacturer to produce our tubes for our products. they gave us written confirmation of purchase order, receipt of our $, and run date for our tubes. we have based much of our business around this date. now vendor says that they can't make date that they originally gave us. this will negatively impact our business tremendously. what recourse do we have to MAKE them adhere to the original date they gave us to manufacturer our tubes? if they dont, can we sue for lost business? or negative impact on our business?
obviously, these instances behoove us to create a risk management plan, but in the meantime, do we have any options?

Well, first off, there isn't any way you can compel them to deliver on the agreed-upon date.

If they've already told you that they will not make the date -- that they are going to be breaching your contract -- this is called an "anticipatory breach," and you would be free to go to another supplier for your parts, and then, if the other supplier charged more, you would be able to sue the original suppier to cover the difference in cost, plus maybe some costs associated with getting the new supplier.

Unless your contract specifies that failing to meet the deadline will result in loss of business and damage your business, it is very unlikely that you could sue for lost business -- generally in contract law, the remedies for breach of contract are limited to the value of the contract. Lost business, lost business opportunities, etc., are considered "special" damages, and are not recoverable in a breach of contract action unless the contract specified the types of damages that might result from breach.

So, your best bet is to try and find another supplier, even if they are more expensive, and then sue the original supplier for breach of contract. If the money involved is a lot, it might be worthwhile to take your purchase orders and other documents down to a local attorney who can review the documents and advise you if you have any other remedies.