4524. Contractors Claim for Compensation Due Under Contract Substantial Performance

4524. Contractor's Claim for Compensation Due Under Contract-- Substantial Performance Instruction No 1 Request by Plaintiff Given as Proposed Refused Withdrawn Request by Defendant Given as Modified Requested by Given on Court's Motion Judge Instruction No 1 [Name of defendant] claims that [name of plaintiff] did not fully perform all of the things that [he/she/it] was required to do under the [terms of the contract/plans and specifications], and therefore [name of defendant] did not have to [specify owner's obligations under the contract, e.g., pay the contract balance]. [Name of plaintiff] claims that [he/she/it] did substantially all of the things required of [him/her/it] under the contract. To succeed, [name of plaintiff] must prove all of the following: 1. 2. 3. That [name of plaintiff] made a good-faith effort to comply with the terms of the contract and did not willfully depart from them; That [name of plaintiff] did not omit any essential requirement in the contract; and That the [name of defendant] received essentially what the contract called for because [name of plaintiff]'s failures, if any, were so trivial that they could have been easily fixed. If you find that [name of plaintiff] substantially performed the contract, the cost of completing unfinished work must be deducted from the contract price. ________________________________________________________________________________ New December 2010