Contract Law Force Majeure In Florida
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Termination — In cases where the force majeure event is severe and long-lasting, the contract may allow for its termination, meaning the parties are released from their obligations entirely because the event has made it impossible or impractical to continue with the contract.
For events to constitute the use of force majeure, they must be unforeseeable, external to contract parties, and unavoidable. Force majeure means “greater force” and is related to an act of God, an event for which no party can be held accountable.
Force majeure events are usually defined as certain acts, events or circumstances beyond the control of the parties, for example, natural disasters or the outbreak of hostilities.
What Are Examples of Force Majeure? Events that could trigger a force majeure clause include war, terrorist attacks, a pandemic, or natural disasters that fall under the “act of God” category, such as a flood, earthquake, or hurricane.
Force majeure clauses work to mitigate the negative effects of force majeure events, including business interruption and supply chain disruption. This Standard Clause excuses the party impacted by the force majeure event from performing its obligations.
Force majeure clauses can prevent financial losses by relieving parties from liability for non-performance due to circumstances beyond their control, ensuring that neither side is held accountable for breaches in such cases.
There are generally three essential elements to force majeure: • tt can occur with or without human intervention • it cannot have reasonably been foreseen by the parties • It was completely beyond the parties' control and they could not have prevented its consequences.
The major difference in such cases is that, without a force majeure clause, the party that wants to be released from contract obligations has the burden of proof, which means that this party must prove their argument is correct. If the other contracting parties do not agree, this could lead to litigation.
A Standard Clause governed by Florida law that allows the contract parties to allocate the risk of certain force majeure events, such as acts of God, hurricanes, earthquakes and other natural disasters, epidemics, terrorism, government acts, embargoes, labor strikes and lock-outs, and other events beyond the control of ...
Because the concept is foreign, lawyers who review or draft contracts governed by U.S. law should start with the assumptions that 1) principles of force majeure will not be implied in a contract that does not expressly provide for them, and 2) U.S. courts will interpret and apply force majeure provisions narrowly.
