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Commercial Leases and Frustration of Purpose, Impossibility Defenses: Strategies for Landlords and Tenants

Recording of a 90-minute premium CLE video webinar with Q&A

This program is included with the Strafford CLE Pass. Click for more information.
This program is included with the Strafford All-Access Pass. Click for more information.

Conducted on Thursday, April 28, 2022

Recorded event now available

or call 1-800-926-7926

This CLE course will guide landlord and tenant counsel on the defenses that have arisen in breach of lease cases due to failure to pay rent during the COVID-19 pandemic. The panel will address recent case law regarding how courts have analyzed claims of the frustration of purpose, impossibility, and other common law defenses.

Description

Commercial landlords and tenants should know the evolving case law and existing leases for commercial properties. The pandemic caused many disruptions, including the payment of rent. While many tenants have attempted to use force majeure clauses in their leases as a defense, others have focused on common law defenses to seek relief.

Courts have referred to various common law defenses, typically impossibility of performance, commercial impracticability, and frustration of purpose.

Throughout the country, claims have continued to be litigated based on these defenses. Counsel for commercial landlords and tenants should know how courts are ruling to prepare the best case moving forward. Defense counsel must also understand the state specifics of what qualifies as an impossibility and when and how a force majeure clause may override the availability of the defense.

Listen as our expert panel reviews the status of landlord-tenant cases that have utilized the common law doctrines of impossibility and frustration of purpose. The panel will advise on best practices when this defense is asserted and when, in the alternative, the contract language will be the determining factor.

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Outline

  1. Contract vs. common law defenses in commercial leases
    1. Force majeure
    2. Impossibility
    3. Frustration of purpose
    4. Commercial impracticability
  2. Recent state decisions
    1. New York
    2. California
    3. Texas
    4. New Jersey
    5. Massachusetts
  3. Best practices

Benefits

The panel will review these and other relevant topics:

  • What are the common law doctrine/defenses used in commercial landlord-tenant cases?
  • How has the case law evolved since the beginning of the pandemic?
  • When must a tenant rely on the force majeure clause in a lease?

Faculty

Bowman, Joshua
Joshua M. Bowman

Partner
Sherin and Lodgen

Mr. Bowman brings years of experience counseling local and national real estate owners and developers, institutional...  |  Read More

Weber, Justin
Justin G. Weber

Partner
Troutman Pepper

Mr. Weber concentrates his practice in commercial litigation, and has extensive experience litigating a broad range of...  |  Read More

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