Simon Adams Interviewed on COVID-19 Force Majeure Claims in Real Estate Market

Simon Adams was quoted in the Law360 article, "Beyond Force Majeure: What Real Estate Attys Should Know." The article examines how the COVID-19 pandemic has brought an unprecedented level of attention in the real estate community to force majeure, and while the clause will excuse some parties from certain obligations, many are increasingly looking beyond force majeure for other ways out of their obligations.

Discussing how parties consider whether to seek relief under frustration of purpose, Simon cautioned that the circumstances must be extreme. He stated, "For contract frustration, the common law test is very clear…significant case law was developed after the Second World War." He added, "A California court found in 1966 in Kennedy v. Reece that the defendant could not use frustration of purpose to get out of an obligation to drill a 400-foot well after hitting rocks at 270 feet."