Cheyenne · Laramie County · Wyoming · (307) 333-7539
You did your part. They did not pay, did not deliver, or walked away halfway through, and now they are saying you breached first.
Most contract cases are not won on what the contract says. They are won on what each side did after it was signed, and on whether anyone kept the emails. We handle unpaid invoices, collapsed deals, subcontractors who walked, buyers who refused to close, and agreements that turned out to mean something different to each side.
How long you have to sue in Wyoming
This is the first question, because it is the one that ends cases before they start. Under Wyo. Stat. § 1-3-105, a claim on a written contract must be brought within ten years. A claim on a contract not in writing, express or implied, must be brought within eight years.
Those are long windows, and they cause a particular harm: people assume there is no rush. The clock generally starts at the breach, not when you discover the damage or finally give up on being paid. Ten years of waiting is also ten years of witnesses moving away, phones being replaced, and the bookkeeper retiring. A claim can be perfectly timely and still be unprovable.
Some agreements run on different clocks, including sales of goods, construction claims, and claims against professionals. If a contract is more than two or three years old, confirm the deadline before anything else.
What you actually have to prove
- That a contract exists. Wyoming enforces oral contracts. What defeats an oral agreement is not the missing signature but the missing proof of terms.
- That you did your part, or had a lawful excuse not to. More cases are lost here than anywhere else. The other side’s first move is almost always to say you breached first.
- That they did not do theirs.
- That it cost you money you can calculate. A breach with no provable damages is a moral victory and an invoice from your lawyer.
Read the fee clause before you decide anything
Wyoming generally follows the American rule: each side pays its own attorney’s fees unless a statute or the contract says otherwise. That makes the fee-shifting clause the most consequential sentence in most commercial agreements, and almost nobody reads it before a dispute starts.
With a prevailing-party fee clause, a modest claim becomes worth pursuing, because the other side now risks your legal costs as well as its own. Without one, a $40,000 claim can cost most of $40,000 to litigate, and the honest advice is often to settle early or let it go. The same paragraph usually sets venue, choice of law, and sometimes arbitration, which decide whether you are in court in Cheyenne, in the other party’s home state, or not in court at all. Bring the contract to the first meeting.
What you can recover
The ordinary measure is expectation damages: enough to put you where performance would have put you. Lost profits are recoverable when proven with reasonable certainty, which in practice means with documents, not testimony about what the year would have looked like. You are expected to mitigate: if a supplier walks and you could have bought elsewhere at a modest premium, the loss is generally the premium. Punitive damages are not available for breach of contract alone in Wyoming; they require independent wrongdoing such as fraud, which is a different claim with different proof and a different deadline.
When suing is the wrong move
Some claims are real, timely, and provable and still should not be filed. A defendant with no assets and no insurance produces a judgment you cannot collect. A dispute with a customer you want to keep is often worth more settled than won. An arbitration clause you forgot signing can close the courthouse no matter how strong the case is. Part of the job is telling you which of these you are in before the fees start. That conversation is free, and it is usually short.
Why this firm
Francis H. McVay is a trial and appellate lawyer. He has prosecuted cases, defended them, and argued before the Wyoming Supreme Court. Contract cases turn on the record: the agreement, the course of dealing, the emails nobody thought mattered, and the findings a judge makes at the end. Every file here is built from the first demand letter for the last judge who will read it.
Frequently asked questions
What is the statute of limitations for breach of contract in Wyoming?
Ten years for a written contract and eight for an unwritten one, under Wyo. Stat. § 1-3-105, generally running from the breach. Some agreements run on different deadlines.
What kind of lawyer do I need?
A civil litigator. Drafting a contract and enforcing one are different skills. Ask any lawyer you interview how many contract cases they have actually tried, as opposed to settled at the demand-letter stage.
What if I am suing a company?
Confirm exactly which entity you contracted with before filing. Suing the wrong entity, or an LLC that has been administratively dissolved, wastes the filing and sometimes the deadline.
How much does it cost to have a lawyer look over a contract?
Reviewing an existing contract to tell you whether you have a claim is part of the free consultation. Drafting or negotiating a new agreement is billed separately, usually at a flat rate once the scope is clear.
When should I hire a contract lawyer?
Before you send the angry email. What you write after a breach becomes evidence, and people routinely admit their own non-performance or waive rights in the first message they send.
Can I sue on a handshake deal?
Often, yes. Wyoming enforces oral contracts and gives you eight years. The case is built from what surrounds the agreement: invoices, texts, partial payments, and how both sides behaved. Some agreements, including most contracts for the sale of land, must be in writing.
Talk to a lawyer today
Call before you send the angry email. What you write now becomes evidence.
Call (307) 333-7539. Answered 24/7, including weekends. Or request a free consultation.
Related
The law is not settled until it is just.
This page describes Wyoming law in general terms as of September 2026 and is not legal advice. Every matter turns on its own facts. Contacting Deep Waters Law does not create an attorney-client relationship.