“Defendant claims that Plaintiff did not fully perform all of the things that he was required to do under the terms of the contract/plans and specifications, and therefore Defendant did not have to [e.g., pay the contract balance]. Plaintiff claims that he did substantially all of the things required of him under the contract. To succeed, Plaintiff must prove all of the following: 1. That Plaintiff made a good-faith effort to comply with the terms of the contract and did not willfully depart from them; 2. That Plaintiff did not omit any essential requirement in the contract; and 3. That Defendant received essentially what the contract called for because Plaintiff’s failures, if any, were so trivial that they could have been easily fixed. If you find that Plaintiff substantially performed the contract, the cost of completing unfinished work must be deducted from the contract price.”
[CACI Jury Instructions [citations omitted]]
