As the world copes with COVID-19 and the necessity of social distancing, individuals and businesses must contemplate the legal ramifications of their contracts, and what happens when those contracts cannot or are not being performed. Most contracts contain termination and remedies provisions that may be implicated given the current health crisis. Additionally, many contracts include “Force Majeure” clauses, which are contractual provisions allocating risk when performance becomes impossible or impracticable as a result of an event that the parties could not have anticipated, such as acts of nature, riots, strikes, wars – or in this instance, a global pandemic. Force Majeure clauses are often overlooked as “boiler plate” language, but the current climate demonstrates the importance of careful drafting and consideration of the circumstances which might permit a contract to be cancelled. Continue Reading...