MY OPINION

COLLAPSE

Macy's Home Furnishings entered into a contract with Top Notch Rugs, the contract stated that 100 rugs must be delivered to Macy's main distribution warehouse by the 1st day of every month, between January and December. Top Notch Rugs was able to deliver the rugs in January successfully, however, in February, violence in the middle eastern started to arise resulting in Top Notch Rugs not being able to deliver as promised due to commercial impracticability. Top Notch Rugs was faced with unexpected circumstances, there was no way to predict that violence in the middle east would increase to such severity. Under the doctrine of commercial impracticability, nonperformance is excused if an unexpected or extreme development makes it impossible for the promisor to perform. Top Notch Rugs would put at risk their employee's life if they forced them to deliver the rugs through the middle eastern even with the violence that is going on. Therefore, Top Notch Rugs has a valid defense as to why they could not deliver the rugs as promised in the contract due to impracticability. See Dorn v. Stanhope Steel, Inc. 368 Pa. Superior Ct. 557 (1987) where the court denied an appeal and based their decision on the doctrine of supervening impracticability which states that a party's duty to perform due to a contract is terminated when such performance is made "impracticable," through no fault of its own, or by the occurrence of an event. Restatement (Second) of Contracts 261.