By Kenneth L. Moskowitz, Esq. and Michele-Lee Shapiro, Esq.*
The extraordinary circumstances surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic — including widespread illness, government stay-at-home orders, and restrictions on travel — have rendered the performance of many contractual obligations unfeasible, impractical, and, in certain circumstances, excused by the contract’s force majeure provisions. However, not every contractual duty will be deemed impossible to discharge, and contracting parties must be careful not to assume that a broad-sweeping “coronavirus defense” will excuse them from legal accountability for non-performance.