By Chris Zheng, J.D.
As businesses continue to confront the harsh economic realities of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, many are looking for legal solutions to cut costs and stay afloat. Even as consumer spending has increased over the past few months, evidence of recovery is mixed at best. As such, many businesses and consumers have been revisiting contracts to look for ways to free themselves from costly obligations. One major avenue of litigation is the invocation of Force Majeure clauses, which are provisions that excuse or delay contractual obligations due to the occurrence of an interrupting event. This post will provide an overview of how Force Majeure works and then examine COVID-19 as a triggering event as applied in recent cases. Finally, it will explore suggestions for how such clauses should be drafted in light of the ongoing pandemic.