COVID-19: When is a pandemic force majeure? And what should new force majeure provisions address?
Posted on: 2 April 2020
COVID-19 has thrown into stark relief a number of difficult contractual and legal challenges, as every sector grapples with wholesale and major disruption of commercial life, from the interruption of worldwide supply-chains to the disappearance of markets, from the unprecedented fall in oil prices to the logistical and practical problems of mass home confinement and lockdowns. Over the next few weeks Quadrant Chambers will be producing a number of briefings on legal aspects of force majeure and business disruption in the light of the Corona virus and its fall-out.
The series starts with a general overview of the availability, in Corona contexts, of a force majeure defence under standard force majeure provisions in the light of recent case-law. Simon Rainey QC and Andrew Leung (who both appeared in the most recent leading case on force majeure, Classic Maritime v Limbungan Makmur Sdn Bhd [2019] EWCA Civ 1102) consider the issues likely to arise and where this leaves the drafting of future such provisions in new contracts.
Read the first article in full here.
Quadrant Chambers will also be covering the following topics in its general and sector-specific bulletins:
- COVID-19: What are the implications for shipping disputes?
- Who bears the burden? Issues arising in relation to Covid-19 and the presentation of insurance claims
- Issues down the track – COVID-19 and the Assessment of Damages
- LNG pricing issues and the collapse of the oil price
- Covid 19 and insurance – how many events or occurrences have we got?
- A practical guide to obtaining urgent interim relief
- Trading and force majeure in a time of COVID-19
- Upstream oil production issues and the collapse in the oil price
- Aviation and travel issues will be covered in our upcoming Aviation Newsletter
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