Law Commons^™

Declaring Force Majeure: Veracity Or Sham?, Leon E. Trakman

Leon E Trakman Dean

The widespread practice by large scale producers, like Exxon Mobil and BP of declaring force majeure has created enormous legal and contractual problems. The practice is used, not only to respond to devastating disasters like Hurricane Katrina, but also to defects in pipelines amounting to little more than wear and tear The result is that customers are left waiting for goods or forced to pay higher prices until their suppliers decide to lift their declarations and resume performance. This article challenges such declarations, arguing that they often fail to comply with both the law set out in article 2-615 of …