Issue: What is the standard for default with regard to contract enforcement in North Dakota?
| Area of Law: | Business Organizations & Contracts, Litigation & Procedure |
| Keywords: | Contract enforcement; Standard for default |
| Jurisdiction: | North Dakota |
| Cited Cases: | None |
| Cited Statutes: | None |
| Date: | 05/01/2014 |
A default is “the omission or failure to perform a . . . contractual duty.” Black’s Law Dictionary 184 (2nd Pocket Ed. 2004).
Notice provisions are contained in a contract because parties should know when something occurring affecting their contract rights. The importance of notice was discussed in an opinion issued by the North Dakota Attorney General. AGO 2005-L-44 Op. Att’y Gen. (2005). In the Opinion, Attorney General Stenehjem addressed a situation involving one of the state’s agencies that had failed to fulfill its obligation to provide notice as fully as required. The Land Department was required to publish a series of notices for the auction of leases. The Department engaged the services of a newspaper to run the notices. The newspaper failed to print the notice the requisite number of times as required; but, nonetheless, the newspaper delivered a proper affidavit of publication to the Land Department. The leases were awarded and the discrepancy came to light. The Attorney General determined the abbreviated notice was not harmless; rather, the failure to comply with a mandatory duty had serious consequences requiring they invalidate subsequent actions. The Attorney General directed the Land Board to correct their non-compliance with the notice requirement before it could enter valid leases for its lands. Id.
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