Data
How common are liquidated damages clauses?
How often does a contract set, in advance, the amount one side pays if something goes wrong?
61 of 510 (12.0%) contain a liquidated damages clause. Among contract types with at least 20 contracts, it appears most often in hosting, collaboration and development agreements.
The labels mark that a fixed-damages clause exists, not the amount or what triggers it.
Liquidated damages
| Contract type | Contracts with it | Share |
|---|---|---|
| All 510 contracts | 61 of 510 | 12.0% |
| Hosting agreement | 8 of 20 | 40.0% |
| Collaboration agreement | 6 of 26 | 23.1% |
| Development agreement | 4 of 29 | 13.8% |
| License agreement | 3 of 33 | 9.1% |
| Endorsement agreement | 2 of 24 | 8.3% |
| Service agreement | 2 of 28 | 7.1% |
| Maintenance agreement | 2 of 34 | 5.9% |
| Co-branding agreement | 1 of 22 | 4.5% |
| Distribution agreement | 1 of 32 | 3.1% |
| Strategic alliance agreement | 1 of 32 | 3.1% |
| Joint venture agreement | 0 of 23 | 0.0% |
| Sponsorship agreement | 0 of 31 | 0.0% |
What it means before you sign
Fixed damages are uncommon in this set, so one in your contract deserves a close read: what triggers it, how much, and whether it is the only remedy or comes on top of others.
How we counted
CUAD v1 labels, presence of text, types with at least 20 contracts.
Limits
- Larger-company deals.
- No amounts or triggers counted.
- Small groups per type.
Source: CUAD v1, The Atticus Project (Hendrycks et al., 2021), CC BY 4.0 — https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. Counts derived from the published labels; no changes to the underlying data.
Informational — not legal advice.