These are trying times, to say the least. Businesses have been shuttered or their operations substantially curtailed, millions of persons are out-of-work, and the economic future is uncertain. Those with performance obligations under business contracts may not be able to carry them out as agreed.
One economic result of this disruption is breach of contract and claims to recover for breach of contract. Generally, a breach is a breach, irrespective of the breaching party’s fault or best intentions.
But what happens when circumstances, like the unprecedented ones we’re experiencing today, intervene, leaving a business with no choice but to cease performance under a contract? Does that, under New York law, provide a business a defense to contract performance that can be asserted in litigation or arbitration?
