Invoking Force Majeure 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.
Parties seeking to rely on force majeure are required to show and evidence (i) that the event is unforeseeable and inevitable; (ii) that the event is out of the risks and liabilities under the contract; and (iii) the impact of such event on the performance of their obligations.
Commonly referred to as “acts of God”, force majeure events are unforeseeable, exceptional or out with the control of contracting parties. Examples include natural disaster, terrorism, industrial strike action, fire and pandemic/epidemic events such as Covid-19.
If a contract is silent on force majeure or if the event does not meet the definition of force majeure under the parties' contract, a party's performance may still be excused in certain circumstances under the doctrine of commercial impracticability.
Force majeure in any given situation is controlled by the law governing the contract, rather than general concepts of force majeure. Contracts often specify what constitutes force majeure via a clause in the agreement. So, the liability is decided per contract and neither by statute nor principles of general law.
In contract law, force majeure refers to exceptional events which prevent or hinder the performance of an obligation. Generally, these are events beyond the parties' control, which could not have been foreseen at the time the contract was entered into or prevented by the affected party.
Force majeure leave. If you have a family crisis, you have a right to limited time off work. This is called force majeure leave. You may need to take force majeure leave for an urgent family reason, such as the unexpected injury or illness of a 'close family member'.
Give Notice, If Necessary. Many clauses require the parties to give notice of a force majeure declaration a specific number of days before the event or within a certain time frame once the event is triggered. Make sure you're following terms and promptly give notice.
The force majeure clause is a contract provision that relieves involved parties from performing their contract obligations if extreme circumstances or “major unforeseen events” outside of their control arise that would make performing these obligations impossible, inadvisable, or dangerous.