As we (incredibly) close in on one year since the COVID-19 pandemic hit U.S. shores, the manner in which courts interpret the doctrines of frustration of purpose and impossibility of performance (the “COVID defenses”) remains top-of-mind for most in the New York real estate industry.

In our last column, we discussed the COVID defenses and analyzed two of the first known decisions applying them in commercial landlord-tenant disputes during the pandemic. Since then, we have been made aware of several additional lower court rulings on the topic. Most courts have held that absent a specific lease clause providing relief, the COVID defenses do not relieve commercial tenants of the obligation to pay rent or otherwise comply with their leases. Other courts, however, have held to the contrary.

This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.

To view this content, please continue to their sites.

Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now

Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now

Why am I seeing this?

LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law are third party online distributors of the broad collection of current and archived versions of ALM's legal news publications. LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law customers are able to access and use ALM's content, including content from the National Law Journal, The American Lawyer, Legaltech News, The New York Law Journal, and Corporate Counsel, as well as other sources of legal information.

For questions call 1-877-256-2472 or contact us at [email protected]