Also known as: frustrated contract · frustrating the contract · contract frustration · doctrine of frustration · frustration
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A doctrine discharging a party's contractual duties when an unforeseen supervening event destroys the shared principal purpose of the contract without rendering performance impossible. Temporary frustration suspends the duty during the event but does not discharge it unless later performance would be materially more burdensome.
Fulton Shipping leased a warehouse from Franklin Foundry for a three-month event series. A city order closed the building for two weeks due to a structural inspection. Fulton resumed the series after reopening without added cost. The temporary frustration suspended Fulton's payment duty during the closure but did not discharge the contract.
Flagship Logistics agreed to ship goods for Freeman Engineering by a fixed date. Freeman repudiated before the date. A later hurricane destroyed the port and would have frustrated the shipment. Freeman's duty to pay damages for repudiation was discharged because the duty would have been excused by frustration.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Felix Franco contracted with Fulton Shipping to refine aluminum at a fixed price tied to a cost index. New environmental rules raised costs far beyond the index. The shared assumption about cost stability failed. The doctrine excused performance because the purpose of the pricing formula was frustrated.
Freya Freeman chartered a vessel from Flagship Logistics to carry wheat via the Suez Canal. The canal closed after hostilities began. The longer route made the voyage commercially impracticable. The doctrine applied because the specific route was a basic assumption of the charter.
Eastern Air Lines contracted with Gulf Oil for jet fuel at a fixed price. An OPEC embargo drove market prices far above the contract rate. The airline faced massive losses over the contract term. The doctrine did not excuse performance because the purpose of buying fuel remained achievable despite higher cost.
Home Building & Loan Association held a mortgage on property owned by Blaisdell. A state law extended the redemption period during an economic emergency. The extension altered the contract timeline. The doctrine did not apply because the law addressed a public emergency rather than destroying a shared contractual purpose.
No. Temporary frustration suspends the duty only while the event lasts. The duty resumes afterward unless later performance would be materially more burdensome than originally contemplated.
Frustration discharges duties when an event destroys the shared purpose even though literal performance remains possible. Impossibility requires that performance itself become objectively impossible.
No. Mere reduction in profitability from market changes does not frustrate the contract. The principal purpose of the agreement must be destroyed, not merely made less advantageous.
The duty to pay damages is discharged if the repudiated performance would have been excused by frustration before any nonperformance.
Yes. A party whose duty is discharged by frustration may recover restitution for any benefit conferred by part performance or reliance.
…made; and it has never been anything else. What the legislature has done is to pass a statute which does not have the effect of frustrating the contract by rendering its performance unlawful, but one which, at the election of one of the parties, postpones for a time the effective enforcement of the contractual obligation, notwithstanding…