News & Analysis as of

Force Majeure Clause Corporate Counsel Contract Terms

Morrison & Foerster LLP

Drafters Beware: Key 2023 English High Court Cases That May Affect Your Commercial Contracts in 2024 and Beyond…

Morrison & Foerster LLP on

Although the general principles of English contractual law did not see a dramatic overhaul in 2023, parties to commercial contracts should still be aware of a number of cases in 2023 that tweaked, clarified or confirmed areas...more

Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP

Commercial Division Force Majeure Decision Provides A Good Overview of the Law Surrounding Leases and the COVID-19 Pandemic

A few months ago, a Commercial Division court granted summary judgment in favor of the plaintiff-landlord in a case involving a commercial lease for a gym that was closed due to COVID-19 restrictions.  The decision in Amherst...more

Lowenstein Sandler LLP

Current Trends in Force Majeure Clauses in the Wake of COVID-19: Frustration of Purpose as an Alternative Argument

Lowenstein Sandler LLP on

In the wake of COVID-19, litigants have increasingly sought to excuse contractual performance by invoking force majeure clauses. In the early stages of the pandemic, there were few reported decisions on these matters, and the...more

Holland & Knight LLP

Massachusetts Court: Café's Rent Excused by COVID Orders That Frustrated Lease's Sole Purpose

Holland & Knight LLP on

The COVID-19 pandemic has strained commercial landlord-tenant relationships across the United States. As the courts wade their way through the backlog of lawsuits filed in 2020, there are a growing number of decisions...more

Eversheds Sutherland (US) LLP

COVID-19: Natural disaster or contractual quandary?

As the ever-evolving COVID-19 pandemic is no longer considered “unprecedented” and the restrictions associated with the pandemic have become a part of “the new abnormal,” district courts nationwide are beginning to grapple...more

Seyfarth Shaw LLP

Bankruptcy Court Denies Debtors’ Motion to Abate Rent Due To COVID-19 Government Shutdown Orders

Seyfarth Shaw LLP on

On December 14, 2020, Judge Marvin Isgur of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas, issued an important decision in the CEC Entertainment, Inc. (Chuck E. Cheese) bankruptcy case, Case No....more

Seyfarth Shaw LLP

California Courts Weigh in on Contractual Obligations in the Era of COVID-19

Seyfarth Shaw LLP on

As discussed in previous updates, courts across the country continue to grapple with the application of force majeure provisions in contracts, as well as the related legal doctrines of impossibility, frustration of purpose,...more

Seyfarth Shaw LLP

Latest Decisions on Force Majeure in the COVID-19 Context

Seyfarth Shaw LLP on

As discussed in previous updates, COVID-19 has brought the concept of force majeure to the forefront across multiple practice areas. As the pandemic-caused shutdowns began, scholars and businesses alike re-examined the...more

Goulston & Storrs PC

Court Partially Excuses Tenant’s Rent Obligations During COVID Shutdown

Goulston & Storrs PC on

In the social and economic fallout from COVID, businesses are assessing how best to address their commercial relationships, especially where potentially insurmountable barriers to performance loom large. One clause that...more

Dunlap Bennett & Ludwig PLLC

Restaurant Group Gets a Break on Its Rent During COVID-19 Pandemic

On June 2, 2020, the Northern District of Illinois Bankruptcy Court addressed landlord-tenant debt obligations issues in light of the COVID-19 pandemic in its decision for In re: Hitz Restaurant Group. The Court held that the...more

Hicks Johnson

A Practitioner’s Guide to COVID-19-Related Force Majeure Disputes

Hicks Johnson on

The predicted wave of force majeure litigation related to COVID-19 has now become reality. Lawsuits are increasingly being filed by parties to contractual disputes, and practitioners are increasingly being called upon to...more

Gould + Ratner LLP

5 Things You Need to Know About the Recent Illinois Ruling on Force Majeure and COVID-19

Gould + Ratner LLP on

The first reported substantive ruling by a judge sitting in Illinois on the legal implications of whether COVID-19 and the resulting governmental shelter-in-place orders relieve a tenant’s obligation to pay rent pursuant to a...more

Ballard Spahr LLP

Recent Bankruptcy Court Case the First to Provide Pandemic-Related Rent Relief to a Tenant Under a Force Majeure Clause

Ballard Spahr LLP on

The United States Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Illinois – Eastern Division recently held that a lease’s force majeure clause sustained a claim for rent abatement arising out of the COVID-19 pandemic. Both...more

Miller Canfield

Bankruptcy Court Says Force Majeure Clause Partially Excuses Rent Payment Due To COVID-19 Executive Order

Miller Canfield on

Restaurants, retail stores, and other businesses around the country have been uniquely hit by COVID-19 - and by the executive orders shuttering their in-person services that quickly followed in its wake. Recently, the United...more

Cozen O'Connor

COVID-Driven Commercial Litigation – What Businesses Can Expect

Cozen O'Connor on

As the nation (and much of the world) remains gripped in uncertainty surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic and the impact of the unprecedented measures being taken to combat its spread, one thing appears beyond doubt on the legal...more

Clark Hill PLC

10-Point Checklist for Issuing and Responding to Force Majeure Notices

Clark Hill PLC on

With the spread of COVID-19 and executive orders and other laws effectuating lockdowns, closures, and rules against multi-person assemblies, many entities are issuing notices claiming excuse for non-performance based on...more

Vinson & Elkins LLP

Routes To Relief On Both Sides Of The Atlantic – Frustration And Force Majeure Under US And English Law

Vinson & Elkins LLP on

COVID-19 presents a unique and, for most parties, unprecedented challenge – a pandemic that has resulted in a global public health crisis and significant restrictions on global trade and labor, the repercussions of which...more

Hogan Lovells

Coronavirus as a contractual force majeure event: A simple checklist

Hogan Lovells on

Email overload on whether the new coronavirus, COVID-19, triggers a force majeure clause? Whether you're considering a claim, worried about receiving one or busy drafting following the outbreak, here's our 10-point,...more

Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt PC

COVID-19 and Force Majeure Clauses

Many organizations may be parties to contracts where the counterparty is seeking to cancel its obligations because of COVID-19. This situation is arising in relation to various commercial relationships, including supply...more

Dorsey & Whitney LLP

Coronavirus and Contractual Performance Disputes - Does a Pandemic Excuse Performance of Contractual Obligations?

Dorsey & Whitney LLP on

The daily headlines are reminders of the far-reaching economic ripple effects of the 2019 Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. The pandemic is forcing companies to abruptly alter strategies and business plans that seemed...more

Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP

Force Majeure: Can It Be Applicable in Case of Failure to Perform the Contract Due to the COVID-19 Outbreak?

For more than a month, China has been suffering from the COVID-19 outbreak, leading to strict containment measures and the standstill of many production plants of raw materials or parts. ...more

Maynard Nexsen

Force Majeure: Is COVID 19 an Act of God?

Maynard Nexsen on

It depends. A force majeure clause typically refers to “acts of God,” defined generally as ‘an act occasioned exclusive by violence of nature without the interference of any human agency.’...more

Miller Canfield

Legal Considerations in Excusing Contractual Performance Due to Coronavirus

Miller Canfield on

Many commentators have assumed that a party to a contract will be excused from performance if the coronavirus outbreak causes its inability to perform. But in order to be sure this would apply in a particular supply contract...more

Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP

Coronavirus and Force Majeure in English Law

- Under English law, force majeure clauses in contracts may allow parties to avoid their performance obligations in certain extreme circumstances, as defined by the contract. - It is unlikely that a low demand for LNG in...more

Morrison & Foerster LLP

Contract Performance In The Time Of Coronavirus: Perspectives From Mainland China And Hong Kong

The coronavirus outbreak has severely hindered business activities in mainland China, with ripple effects throughout Asia and beyond. As a result of the outbreak, companies in mainland China, Hong Kong, and other places in...more

26 Results
 / 
View per page
Page: of 2

"My best business intelligence, in one easy email…"

Your first step to building a free, personalized, morning email brief covering pertinent authors and topics on JD Supra:
*By using the service, you signify your acceptance of JD Supra's Privacy Policy.
- hide
- hide