Rosie the Florist is a client of law firm. The Spring Festival is one of the biggest events of the year, with many local businesses creating large displays at the event. Jacy's Department Store is known for having the most elaborate of all the displays for Spring Festival. The Jacy's display is always located at the small plaza that is next to the department store. Rosie had entered into a valid contract with Jacy's in order to supply the flowers for their display. In the contract, it is clearly stated that Jacy's order consists of large quantities of three main types of flowers: 1) peonies, 2) gladiolas, and 3) marigolds. The contract did not specify alternate types of flowers. The contract states that Rosie needs to deliver the flowers to Jacy's on April 11, the day before the Spring Festival.

On April 4, Rosie received word from Poppy's Peonies, her longtime supplier of peonies, that there was a flood that had destroyed their peony crop and they would not be able to deliver the peonies. Rosie started looking elsewhere for peonies and could not find anyone else who could supply the peonies on that timeline, although another supplier had ranunculus, a flower that is often used as a replacement for peonies. Rosie was planning to ask Jacy's about the replacement. However, she then realized that there was a problem with her marigold supplier, Mum's Marigolds. She had been looking at Mum's website on April 8 to check on her order and noticed a small notice that informed customers that Mum's was now using Junko's pesticide on their flowers. Junko's pesticide had ingredients that had been banned within Rosie's town (Mum's is in a different town). This meant Rosie would not be able to get her flowers from Mum's and it was too close to Spring Festival to get a replacement. Only the gladiolas were going to be good to go, and Rosie already paid her supplier for the gladiolas.

On April 9, Jacy's received word that there is a leak in a pipe running under the plaza where they usually perform their display. This leak would need immediate repair, which would take at least 2 days - so their plans to have the display there would not work and they did not think that there was another available space that could be identified quickly enough.

Supervising attorney asks you to take a look at the breach of contract issues - mainly whether there were excuses for performance that would apply to the situations. 

1. Does an excuse for performance apply to Poppy's inability to deliver the peonies to Rosie? 

2. Does Rosie's inability to deliver peonies or marigolds to Jacy's fall under a valid excuse of performance? If Jacy's said that it does not need to perform its obligations under the contract because of the plaza repairs, would that be excused?

Answer rating: 100% (QA)

Excuse for Performance Regarding Poppys Peonies Rosies inability to obtain peonies from Poppys Peonies due to the flood is likely to be considered a v... View the full answer