The following excerpts are from the New York Chapter of the Force Majeure Global Guide Prepared by McDermott Will & Emery LLP, Published by ALM. For an in-depth conversation around this topic, please register for our Sept. 30 webinar “Does COVID-19 trigger force majeure? Navigating the legal and business issues“ with international lawyer Lisa Richman for a discussion about the practical implications of force majeure in making business decisions state-by-state and across the globe.

  1. How does COVID-19 affect contractual obligations?

In the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak, many businesses may find themselves unable to perform their contractual obligations, whether due to resulting economic uncertainty or actual impossibility. Businesses facing these issues should review their contracts to determine whether the circumstances resulting from COVID-19 provide any relief from their (or their counterparty’s) performance obligations, for example, under a contractual force majeure provision. These provisions sometimes excuse performance for fires, floods, hurricanes, and other “Acts of God.” Whether parties that have contracted under New York law can rely on force majeure to excuse performance depends on the terms of the contracts themselves as well as applicable law and facts.

  1. How are force majeure provisions interpreted in New York? Is there a key case that should be considered?

This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.

To view this content, please continue to their sites.

Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now

Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now

Why am I seeing this?

LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law are third party online distributors of the broad collection of current and archived versions of ALM's legal news publications. LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law customers are able to access and use ALM's content, including content from the National Law Journal, The American Lawyer, Legaltech News, The New York Law Journal, and Corporate Counsel, as well as other sources of legal information.

For questions call 1-877-256-2472 or contact us at [email protected]