Contracts

We are only beginning to scratch the surface of the effect on the construction litigation visited on us by COVID-19-related impacts. However, the pandemic and its continuing impact has reinforced the importance of planning for the unexpected — and undefined — when negotiating construction contracts.

Since the pandemic began, lawyers have been using the coronavirus to justify nonpayment of rent, construction delays and even termination of labor contracts. But the prospect of litigating a contract cancellation based on force majeure is still so fraught with peril that many breach-of-contract disputes end in an amicable resolution.

In a defamation suit brought by former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore, a Federal District Judge recently ruled that a release Judge Moore signed prior to his appearance on the satirical Showtime series Who is America? barred precisely the sorts of claims he was bringing. In this Q&A, Baron Cohen's attorneys discuss the case.

When 2020 came and went without the Tokyo Olympics, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, lawyer Alan Fertel watched as many of the sponsorships and deals he'd negotiated for one of the world's fastest swimmers — now Tokyo Olympics Gold medal winner Caleb Dressel — expired.

The most important part of a contract is the data that it generates. If you take all that data from each contract, then aggregate, organize and analyze it, you will have critical insights into the overall effectiveness of your contracting process and the way you transact business.

The audit clause is a necessary means for the licensor to protect its interests and to guard against unscrupulous licensees. But it is a mistake to think that the clause is there solely to prevent malfeasance.

In The Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York v. D'Agostino Supermarkets, the NY Court of Appeals split on the issue of whether the relevant damages clause in a commercial lease was unenforceable as a matter of law because it was so grossly disproportionate to the ascertainable amount due upon full performance.

Defense counsel in complex white-collar investigations are often asked to waive these important protections by entering into tolling agreements, stopping the clock on the statute of limitations at issue. Whether such an agreement is actually in a target or subject's best interest presents a difficult question, and COVID-19 has impacted the calculus.