Question
Before you post anything, read the following article: https://news.bloomberglaw.com/health-law-and-business/coronavirus-threatens-to-flood-courts-with-contract-disputes PART 2 Think about this excerpt from the law360 article: We just don't have law yet
Before you post anything, read the following article:
https://news.bloomberglaw.com/health-law-and-business/coronavirus-threatens-to-flood-courts-with-contract-disputes
PART 2
Think about this excerpt from the law360 article:
"We just don't have law yet on whether, for example, Covid will qualify as an act of God," said Lisa Richman, a partner at McDermott Will & Emery, who co-chairs the firm's international arbitration and dispute resolution group. "Given the widespread nature it's certainly possible, but again that's not something that's been tested yet so it's just an open question."Courts have interpreted the term to mean an extraordinary act of nature and something truly beyond a party's control, Richman said, adding that some of them refer to weather-related events but there is very little jurisprudence on what qualifies.
https://casetext.com/case/southern-ry-co-v-jefferson(Links to an external site.)
On the night of September 18th1944, an exceptional rainfall washed away S.F. Jefferson's tobacco barn.Mr. Jefferson sued Southern Railway Company for damages, citing their construction of a culvert in the 1860s to drain off rainfall was insufficiently small.The court ruled in favor of Southern Railway Company, their claim being thatthe abnormal and disastrous level of rainfall constituted an act of God.
Why do you agree/disagree with the finding of the court in the example you cited?
Theexcessive rain that washed away Mr. Jefferson's barn was unprecedented. Highways were inaccessible and residents were left without clean drinking water. Under normal circumstances, the culvert would have drained off the rainfall without issue, as it had for nearly 60 years. Because the rainfall was unforeseen and unmanageable, I agree with the court's ruling.
How can the reasoning in your example be used to decide whether a breach of contract due to COVID-19 constitutes an "act of God" in the contractual sense?
Any event outside of human control can constitute an act of God. In the case of Southern Railway Company, they could not have foreseen the destructive nature of the storm that washed away Mr. Jefferson's barn in 1944.Similarly with the pandemic, while there are precautions that can be made to minimize it's spread,the virus could not be foreseen or prevented.
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write a full paragraph if you agree or not.
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