Economic Interference Claims

Non-Party Inducing a Party to Breach a Contract: A non-party to a contract may not intentionally cause a party to breach that contract. To establish that this happened to you, you must prove that (1) there was a contract between you and another party, (2) the defendant knew of the contract, (3) the defendant intended to cause the other party to breach the contract, (4) the defendant’s conduct caused the other party to breach the contract, (5) you were harmed, and (6) the defendant’s conduct was a substantial factor in causing your harm. CACI 2200.
 
Non-Party Disrupting/Interfering with Someone Else’s Contract: Nor may a non-party to a contract intentionally disrupt the performance of a contract, preventing performance or making performance more difficult or expensive. (The required proof is otherwise the same as above.) CACI 2201.
 
Intentional Interference with Prospective Economic Relations: To establish a claim that someone intentionally interfered with an economic relationship between you and some third party, you must prove that (1) you and the third party were in an economic relationship that probably would have resulted in an economic benefit to you, (2) the defendant knew of the relationship, (3) the defendant intended to disrupt the relationship, (4) defendant engaged in wrongful conduct through, e.g., misrepresentation, fraud, violation of some statute, (5) the relationship was disrupted, (6) you were harmed, and (7) defendant’s wrongful conduct was a substantial factor in causing your harm. CACI 2202.
 
Negligent Interference with Prospective Economic Relations: To establish a claim that someone negligently interfered, you must prove that (1) you and the third party were in an economic relationship that probably would have resulted in a future economic benefit to you, (2) the defendant knew or should have known of the relationship, (3) the defendant knew or should have known that this relationship would be disrupted if he/she/it failed to act with reasonable care, (4) defendant failed to act with reasonable care, (5) defendant engaged in wrongful conduct through, e.g., breach of contract with another, misrepresentation, fraud, violation of some statute, (6) the relationship was disrupted, (7) you were harmed, and (8) defendant’s wrongful conduct was a substantial factor in causing your harm. CACI 2204.