Under classic contract law, if a party breaches a contract, in most cases only the parties to the agreement have the right to enforce its terms. However, courts are increasingly granting third parties the right to enforce a contract, even when they are a stranger to said contract.
While courts throughout the country vary on how they may interpret these agreements, the overarching concept is for the contracting parties to have intended for a third party to benefit. In a California case, Sessions Payroll Management, Inc. v. Noble Construction, Inc., the court held that "a party not named in the contract may qualify as a beneficiary under it where the contracting parties must have intended to benefit the unnamed party and the agreement reflects that intent." The mere fact that a third party is incidentally named, or that the contract benefits them, does not entitle them to enforce it; the intent of the parties to benefit such third party must be clearly established in the language of the contract and the circumstances of the transaction.
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