Commercial Impracticability Definition with Example

Commercial impracticability is triggered when an occurrence occurs and makes the performance of a specific duty in a contract difficult and expensive to carry on. In a contract, impracticability is a viable reason for failure to undertake duties. Most of this situation finds them in a court of law for the judge to make decisions.

Most of the times, judging impracticality becomes difficult as both parties deal with a personal understanding of the situation rather than the real facts (Pfander & Wentzel , 2020). During impracticability judgment, Judges in United States argue that something unexpected happens after the contract is made, which makes the work extremely difficult and expensive to undertake. Both parties could not predict it.

For example:

Willock and Emily hire Kyle, a contractor who deals with landscaping and installation of the water system. In their case, they want Kyle to install a sprinkling system and new landscape on the farm, thus making a down payment of $670. Before starting the project, a heavy storm comes in, leaving the land covered by three feet of mud, trees and other disposals. For Kyle to undertake task under the contract, the contractor must remove the wastes on the farm and dig an extra three feet, which will take several days and increased manpower, thus increasing the project’s cost.

In the above case, Kyle is not at fault for not undertaking the job and can be excused because both parties never expected the flood to take place, the job becomes challenging to undertake since the contractor must remove the waste brought by the storms and dig an extra three feet to remove the soil, and this will increase the time and manpower thus increasing the cost of the whole project (Van  & Rory, 2019). Kyle will, therefore, under a loss and must consider not undertaking the task.