Legal Definitions - costs de incremento

Costs de incremento, also known as costs of increase, refers to additional expenses or financial burdens incurred by a party due to a delay, a change in circumstances, or an unexpected event, particularly in legal or contractual matters. These are costs that would not have arisen had the original plan, timeline, or agreement been followed. They represent the financial impact of deviations from an anticipated course of action.

• Example 1 (Construction Project Delay):

  A construction company is building a new residential complex. Due to an unexpected supply chain disruption, the delivery of critical building materials is delayed by three months. During this period, the company must continue to pay for the rental of specialized scaffolding and heavy machinery that is now sitting idle on the site, and they also incur additional security costs to protect the partially completed structure for an extended duration.

  These ongoing rental fees for idle equipment and the extra security expenses are "costs de incremento" because they are additional financial burdens directly caused by the material delivery delay. These costs would not have been incurred if the project had proceeded on its original schedule without interruption.

• Example 2 (Litigation Postponement):

  In a patent infringement lawsuit, the court grants a last-minute request to postpone the trial by several months due to a scheduling conflict with the judge. As a result, the defendant's legal team has to spend additional hours reviewing newly disclosed documents, updating their expert witness reports, and rescheduling depositions, all of which generate further legal fees and administrative costs.

  The extra legal fees for the additional preparation time, updated reports, and rescheduling efforts are "costs de incremento." These expenses were directly caused by the trial postponement and would not have been necessary if the trial had commenced as originally scheduled.

• Example 3 (Contractual Dispute in Services):

  A marketing agency has a contract to run a three-month advertising campaign for a client. A dispute arises mid-campaign regarding the target audience and messaging, leading to a two-month halt in operations while the parties negotiate a resolution. During this pause, the agency must continue to pay salaries to the dedicated team members assigned to the client's account, even though they are not actively working on the campaign, and they also incur costs for extended software licenses and data subscriptions that would have expired earlier.

  The salaries paid to the idle marketing team and the extended software/data subscription costs are "costs de incremento." These are additional expenses incurred because of the contractual disagreement and the resulting delay, which would not have been necessary if the campaign had progressed smoothly according to the original agreement and timeline.