Friend of mine has a contract. They want to break the contract because they don’t want to catch coronavirus and the city they work in is degenerating to craziness. They were told that breaking the contract is illegal during a state of emergency, on the same level as price gouging. Is this true? I always thought contracts were enforced in civil court, not criminal
Any lawyer anons I need help
Andrew Davis
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Jason Perry
Contracts don't matter. The Treaty of Versailles doesn't matter.
David Howard
Checked and thanks for the bump but I’m being serious user. I need help here
Bentley King
look at the size of those tits! nipples of perfect radius! AHOOOGAA AHOOOAGGA HUMUNA HUMUNA HUMANA!
Elijah Perez
Depends on the verbage of the contract. The TL;DR is more than certainly not illegal because that would imply that not showing up for work is price gouging. Contracts are enforced in civil courts typically.
If they already received payment for their countract, they are screwed. If they've not been paid for their contract, they are screwed.
If their contract was the delivery of necessary goods, like groceries and the such, they have some relief. IF they are 1099, they can typically cancel their contracts whenever.
TL;DR, ask them to give your friend in writing, not over the phone, that breaking the contract here is illegal during the state of emergency, and it's the same as price gouging. Ask them to certify that they will press criminal charges. Then sue their ass for misrepresenting the law. Last paragraph implies best case where your friend is not a brainlet.
James Long
Contracts are a civil matter, is the contract regarding anything non essential? If so then whoever is trying to force the contract may actually be breaking the law. Which is not civil. There should be some fine print that clarifies what will void the contract.
Charles Stewart
It’s to clean apartments. Thanks user
Thank you too user
Brody Young
correction:
If they've not been paid for their contract, they are in the clear.
Isaac Perry
Contracts have nothing to do with criminal law, and it is a basic fact of common law that no man can be compelled to perform a contract. Instead if they were sued for breach of contract the worse that they will have to do is put the other party in a position as if the contract had been performed.
Carter Torres
Worst case scenario, it will be determined impracticable in court. He can breach and the court will protect him
Eli Thompson
It depends on the state. It depends on other things. Depends on what's actually in the contract, and if it was drawn up properly. Best idea is to get a one-hour free consultation with a contracts attorney.
Leo Johnson
Contracts are not criminally enforced as far as I know
Juan Reyes
Where? I'll do it. I know this shit is a hoax. Tell your beaner friend to slide that contract over to me. Op is a faggot
Isaiah Powell
does your friend own a company that has a government contract or are they an employee?
Nolan Green
The state of emergency may be a complete defense. I don’t have time to look up the names of the affirmative defenses.
Nicholas Edwards
>He thinks I’m dumb enough to dox my friend
Fuck off juan and go back to mexico
Alexander Reyes
Force majeure generally nullifies contacts
Evan King
>ne has a contract. They want to break the contract because they don’t want to catch coronavirus and the city they work in is degenerating to craziness. They were told that breaking the contract is illegal during a state of emergency, on the same level as price gouging. Is this true? I always thought contracts were enforced in civil
No. There is a defense to contract performance called frustration of purpose. Your friend probably has a fine chance of succeeding in court.
(Some criminal statutes have civil enforcement provisions. For example, I've sued under RICO a handful of times, and most unfair competition statutes of states permit suits by private parties.)
- T. Federal Litigator (IP Attorney)
Dominic Fisher
...stop. An "Affirmative Defense" is a term of art for procedural defenses, not substantive defenses. Affirmative defenses are defenses that are lost if not pled by a certain time.
Eli Ramirez
As far as I’m aware that has to be written into the contract as a specific clause
Jaxon Hill
Tell me your problems, user. First:
1. What state are you in? Almost all contract law is based on state, rather than federal, law.
2. What is the product or service? Contracts for goods have different rules than contracts for services.
3. What is the status of your friend, and the potential defendant? E.g., private person, company, municipality.
We're going to get through this together. Pol is a board of peace and frenship. Unless there's something good on television. Then, I'm off and you're fucked.
Andrew Cooper
Btw anons I can’t thank you enough for all this help. My friend is desperate and all of this info is very helpful. I don’t know what I’d do without Yas Forums
Josiah Ramirez
Then you need to really contact an attorney, or at least ask advice on a serious site dedicated to such a thing. Asking Yas Forums for real advice means you are a retard and deserve whatever fate you get for breaking that contract
Daniel Wright
Ignore this. 1099, i.e. independent contractor status, doesn't affect contract rights. The only difference is that employees have additional, usually fiduciary, duties..
Adrian Anderson
1. Delaware is the state
2. Contract for services (don’t want to get too specific so as not to dox my friend)
3. Sole proprietorship
Jaxson Thomas
Most law firms are closed down right now.
Leo Bell
>Most law firms are closed down right now.
Are your law firms so backward? Most law firms here are still open, just working remotely.
Nathaniel White
It’s really difficult to say without knowing what the contract is for, and what, specifically, it says. Ordinarily, contracts are enforced in civil courts, and the penalty for breaking the contract is usually just an award of money. Breaking a contract is allowed if there is a force majeure clause that mentions things like pandemic or government shutdown. There’s also the defense of impossibility: if I hire a guy to paint my house on Monday and he doesn’t show up because the government has placed the city on lockdown, there’s nothing I can do about it as long as the guy eventually shows up when he can.
Cooper Reyes
Is that AOC?
Jason Roberts
Kek yeah it is
Jace Watson
Is there a Force Majeure clause?
In the state in which the contract services are to be provided, has there been any restrictions on non-essential businesses? If so, and the contract services are not "essential," then your friend can't perform. Common law doctrine of impracticability would prevent it.
It's really hard to figure this stuff out without looking at the contract, though.
Landon Campbell
Yep, I would go with 'Frustration of Purpose' as outlined above.
en.wikipedia.org
First of all, risk management: no one gets soaked in contract litigation. Every one pays their own attorneys, and the damages available are "expectancy" damages. In other words, heavy, e.g. punitive damages, damages are not available to the plaintiff. The worst that could happen is that your friend gets sued, and he loses, and pays damages equivalent to what the defendant lost in acquiring comparative services. Check out frustration of purpose, though; that's your bitch!
Adrian Kelly
this is a a better explanation of what I was trying to say here:
Carson Lewis
Trying to find out if there is a force majeure clause now. It is considered an essential service I believe but just barely so impractibility doesn’t apply as of now. Unless Delaware goes into lockdown and closes its borders because my friend lives in a. Different state from where they work
Easton Cooper
It's not frustration of purpose its impracticability/impossibility. Frustration of purpose would be if the (lets say house cleaning) house he was supposed to clean had burnt down or no longer existed. Here, the house still exists, and the purpose of the contract hasn't been destroyed - it's just no longer possible to perform.
Lincoln Gonzalez
Thanks to all the anons helping out. You guys are good people
Carson Anderson
FYI, I've never seen or heard of any one ever litigating a force mejeure clause. Be careful with rare case law.
Frustration of purpose protects you whether or not the courts respect the FM clause. Of course, if there were a time to enforce an FM clause, I would assume that it's now.
Anthony Gonzalez
Agreed. Force majeure was one of the first things I thought of, there being a global pandemic. What better time to claim act of God than right now?
Julian Russell
It could be FOP because the underlying assumptions of the contract have changed, e.g.: permissible travel, and a standard set of contagions, the availability of additional peripheral services related to his own, etc.
By the way, "Impracticability" seems to be another name for FOP in the more godless states, e.g. California. MFW no courts of chancery like Virginia and Massachusetts.
Nolan Ramirez
Summary so far
>OP is directionless loser who cleans apartments
>Hed rather sit home and masturbate and go into debt than risk a small chance of mild symptoms
>The apartment guys not buying it and going to show OP that actions have consequences like his dad failed to
Joshua Garcia
I think that the consensus of the good advice that you're getting on this Board, user, is that:
1. Your friend isn't in criminal jeopardy.
2. Your friend probably has an excuse to refuse performance that would be upheld by a court.
3. Your friend in the worst case scenario has to return the money that he got from the contract, which in the biz, we call restitution.
Cooper Nelson
My state ag had to put out a statement to the municipals to quit there shit... they were usurping the state government
Isaac Murphy
Fuck off. A man who owns a business cleaning homes is as much of a businessman as the man who owns an oil company. This pol. Every one begins somewhere.
Colton Martinez
Thanks for the summary user
Brandon Baker
No way... sneaky lawyers
Connor Hernandez
Pre-emption is a bitch...
(We deal with it in IP litigation in federal court all the time. caselaw.findlaw.com
Christopher Long
Sure. Is there anything else that I can help you with before I head off into the sunset?
Jacob Lopez
They are different in Delaware and New York, at least.
Unless frustration is fairly different in your state, I still don't think it would be frustration of purpose. This is one of those examples where the state specific doctrine is going to make the difference, though.
Eli Barnes
Faggot
Thanks anons. He works hard and started his own (small business) but it pays decent and it’s better than being a leech. He’s just scared of getting this virus and doesn’t want to get hit too hard by the law for putting the business temporarily on hold
Charles Hill
Yeah this.
Oliver Rogers
Proof blonde hair and blue eyes can change any woman into being attractive
Luke Baker
It's more a case of virtually every single law firm being under strict data protection and client confidentiality laws which mean having a remote system is near-essential. The upside of that is that in the event of a genuine emergency most lawfags can work remotely so long as they have Outlook and a client matter platform.
Christian Gomez
Not performing on a contract is valid when enacted laws make performance of the contract criminal. You can sue for specific performance of the contract and maybe damages suffered once the virus is over, but good luck getting your case looked at anytime soon as the courts will be absolutely packed after all the bans are lifted. Better off eating your losses.
Logan Jenkins
No user, you and everyone else here have been a huge help, and i wish I could express how much I appreciate you guys. Thank you, and i mean that as sincerely, you guys are good people
Jaxson Walker
> DOCTOR > IBS OR MENTAL
Jordan Cook
God, she's a solid 10/10 when bleached. White genes make everything better.
Grayson Gonzalez
impossibility/ force majeure
Brody Cox
...a court ordering a defendant to clean someone's house...that's an injunction that will never happen. It's prohibited by the nigger-freeing* amendments. The same rules that prohibit slavery, also prohibit involuntary servitude. In other words, a court cannot order a party to perform except in the rare circumstances that the party's performance cannot be equivalently had elsewhere. That's slavery.
* I refuse to have a pol thread that lacks the word "nigger."
Zachary Howard
Pay it forward. Good night.
Joshua Flores
>nigger freeing amendments
Made me kek
Jace Bennett
Tell your friend to grow some balls and finish what he agreed to
Brandon Lee
Absolutely fren. If anons ever have questions I can help with I always try to give an answer
Daniel Martin
lol I worked on a case where somebody wanted specific performance from our client on a building contract where the contractor pulled out once he found the building contract was for a large brick structure for "storing slaves and torture chambers".