Valilas Vs. Januzaj Case Study

Case name and citation:
Valilas v. Januzaj [2014] EWCA Civ 436

Court and judges:
Court of Appeal (Civil Division): Lady Justice Arden, Lord Justice Floyd and Lord Justice Underhill.

Parties:
Appellant: Valdet Januzaj. Respondent: Ioannis Valilas

Material facts:
Mr. januzaj is the defendant in this case who is the principal of a dental practice and Mr. Valilas is the claimant who practiced there under an oral agreement to use the equipment , premises and support staff of the dental practice and would pay in turn 50% of his receipts to the defendant each month (para3).
The majority of the claimant’s earnings were generated from the Primary Care Trust (PCT) with whom he had contracted to carry out a specified number of Units of Dental Activity

(para43) following the consequences, the late payments to the defendant would not cause ‘significant harm’ (para55) and the only likely loss to the defendant was “the loss of the use of money in the meantime.” (para69) coupled with all other circumstances of the case, led the court of appeal to conclude that Mr. Valilas’ breach of contract had not deprived Mr. Januzaj of “substantially the whole of benefit” of the contract. The Valilas case therefore emphasizes again the significant risks associated with terminating contracts on the basis of a repudiatory breach of contract. (para58)

Ratio Decidendi: It should be well understood at this point what renunciation and repudiation means. If a breach does not go to the root of the contract it’s not a repudiatory breach therefore late payments is not an essential element of a contract until and unless it was termed as a condition of the contract expressly or impliedly or deprives one of the parties’ of substantially the whole of benefit. If a party to the contract knows he/she would eventually receive the payment, it will probably not be repudiation.
Alongside, termination of any contract without an adequate notice may amount to repudiatory breach, that’s why legal advice must be sought before any further serious