Accord & Satisfaction

An accord and satisfaction is an agreement to solve a claim in which the parties to a contract agree on new terms which may be less stringent than the ones in the original contract. The party with a claim usually receives less than what is owed to settle the claim. Even after an accord and satisfaction agreement, it is still possible for one of the parties in the contract to take legal action for breach of the original contract. When used as an affirmative defense, it is the responsibility of the party being sued to prove that an accord and satisfaction agreement was actually done.