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Force Majeure Management

Force majeure notice work for counsel and contract teams: one plain event record, each affected contract on the clock its own clause sets, and nothing sent until counsel decides.

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Follow one 48-hour notice to delivery ↓
The problem

One flood starts dozens of notice clocks, each in its own clause

When a site closes, every contract that touches it may need a notice, and each clause sets its own terms. One wants notice within hours of the event, another within business days of becoming aware, a third by courier signed by an officer. Some make notice in time a condition of relief.

The team first has to find which contracts are touched, then read each clause, then find the current notice address, which may have moved by a letter years later. Meanwhile the shortest clocks are already running, and the notices that go out first are often the easy ones, not the urgent ones.

Built forSenior counselContract analystsCommercial managersRisk managersInternal auditors

The Problem Today

One flood or fire can start dozens of notice clocks, each with its own clause, form and address.

322
hours to read one site's 966 contracts, at 20 minutes each our estimate

Tracked by hand today

  • Clauses
  • Clocks
  • Notices
  • Proof
  • The shortest clock gets lostHours on one contract, business days on the next
  • Addresses move by letterThe notice desk named in the contract may be gone

The Solution

  1. One plain event recordWhat, where and when, with a source for each fact and no legal label
  2. Find what it touchesEach contract read, with a reason in and a reason out
  3. Each clause's own clockHours, business days or awareness, shortest clock on top
  4. Drafted for counselAddress checked against later letters, then counsel reads and decides

Built-in controls

  • Agents never say the clause applies
  • Nothing is sent without counsel
  • Whoever prepares a notice never decides it

What You Get

Counsel works the shortest clocks first, and each notice goes to the address in force, with the reads behind it logged.

  • Clocks from each clauseEach contract sorted by the time its own words allow
  • Notices that say what the clause asksAddress, method and contents checked before counsel sees it
  • One story for insurers tooThe same facts to counterparties and to each policy
One event, one notice

A river flood, 64 contracts touched, and a 48-hour force majeure notice

The marine terminal at a refinery closes when the river crosses flood stage. On the second evening, one diesel sale has nine hours left on a notice that is a condition of relief.

demoSample data only: the terminal, the buyers, the people and every amount.

  1. 01Day two, 21:40

    64 of 2,870 contracts may be touched, each on its own clock

    Contract analyst

    The event fan puts the flood on the left as a plain record and the contracts it may touch on the right, shortest clock on top. 36 clocks are running, 1 ran out and 27 have stopped. One has already run out, a towage contract now with counsel. Sale 118 leads the running clocks with nine hours left.

  2. 02The record

    The event record says what happened and never calls it force majeure

    Event recorder

    Each fact in the record has its source. Behind the closure is the harbor master's notice: channel and berths closed to vessel movements, no reopening date until a survey. The river peaked at 24.1 feet against a flood stage of 18.0. The record leaves the legal label out on purpose; counsel decides that, contract by contract.

  3. 03The clause

    Sale 118: notice within 48 hours, and in time is a condition of relief

    Clause reader

    The force majeure clause sits beside the facts on file, line by line: what counts, how hard it must bite, the clock, the form and address, what the notice must say, the duty to limit harm and how it ends. Notice in time is a condition of relief. Two cargoes of 300,000 barrels fall in the window, $57.0M of deliveries. The agents take no view on whether the clause applies.

  4. 04The draft

    The address check fails: a later letter moved the buyer's notice desk

    Contract analyst

    The draft is addressed to the contracts desk named in the agreement. The check before it can go says no: a letter from the buyer, countersigned, moved all notices under this contract to supply coordination, and the old mailbox has closed. Sent as drafted, the notice would reach nobody, and the clock would run out while it sat there.

  5. 05The fix

    She corrects the address from the letter and sends the draft to counsel

    Contract analyst

    The notice address now reads supply coordination, from the later letter, with its source. Method, nature of the event, expected duration and quantities affected all pass their checks against the clause. The analyst prepares the notice, but she cannot decide it. She sends it to senior counsel, nine hours before the clock runs out.

  6. 06Counsel's read

    Counsel opens the clause, the letter and the draft before deciding

    Senior counsel

    Her decision panel lists what she must read: the clause, the later letter and the draft itself. Each opens from its source, and each opening is logged. The clause reads as the contract wrote it: notice within forty-eight hours of the start of the event, stating its nature, expected duration and the quantities affected.

  7. 07The decision

    Delivered with nine hours left, and the clock stops

    Senior counsel

    She decides the notice goes, as drafted, and the delivery is logged by email to the notice address with the receipt kept. The clock reads stopped. The decision line records who decided and how much time was left. Only a logged delivery or counsel's recorded decision can stop a clock; the clock keeper cannot.

  8. 08The trail

    Each read that gated the decision is on the trail

    Internal auditor

    Filtered to reads, the audit trail shows counsel opening the notice, the letter and the contract clause, the analyst opening the letter and the harbor notice, and the event recorder's first entry from the terminal duty log. Who agreed, what they read, and when, answered on one screen.

  9. 09Back on the fan

    Sale 118 moves to stopped, and the next shortest clock takes the top

    Contract analyst

    Back on the fan, the stopped filter lists every line delivered, ruled or closed with no notice by counsel, Sale 118 first. Its clock no longer counts. The headline row now names the next notice due, with 9 hours 12 minutes left, and the counts read 35 running, 1 ran out and 28 stopped.

A diesel sale's clause beside the file: forty-eight hours, and in time

The clause beside the facts, as the analyst and counsel read it.

The clause asksWhat the file holds
Notice within forty-eight hours of the start of the eventClosure at 06:40 on day one, so the clock runs out at 06:40 on day three
Notice in time is a condition of reliefMarked on the line before anything else
Email to the notice address, receipt keptAddress moved by a later countersigned letter; draft corrected
Nature of the event, expected duration, quantities affectedHarbor master's closure, first damage report, two cargoes of 300,000 barrels
Reasonable efforts to limit the harmRail rack at 22,000 barrels a day for all product

demoSample data, from the working solution.

Around the event

Scope, received notices, evidence and insurers for the same flood

The screens behind the rest of the touched contracts and the proof.

Contracts left out2,806 left out in five groups, each with its reason. A person reads a sample of each, a second person signs: leaving one out stops its clock early.
Notices received22 counterparties have written. Each notice is checked against its own clause for what it leaves out; the agent never accepts or rejects one.
Evidence of cause, duration and mitigation6 of 10 items held, each with its owner and the lines waiting for it. A missing signed river gauge record is flagged with who can supply it.
Insurers beside the contractsFour policies with their own clocks, so the same facts go to insurers and counterparties. Whether a loss is covered stays with the insurer and counsel.
Contract register2,870 contracts read: 2,714 with a force majeure clause, 1,622 on a fixed clock, 1,092 with looser words and 604 that make notice a condition.
SettingsThe rules in force, such as the working target for clauses with no fixed clock, and changes waiting for senior counsel's signature.

demoSample data, from the working solution.

The agents

Event recorder to evidence tracker: the line each agent stops at

They record, find, read, time and draft. Every legal call is counsel's.

Event recorder

Writes the event as a plain record, with a source for each fact.

  • Never says force majeure about the event
Contract finder

Proposes contracts in and out of scope, each with a reason.

  • Never removes a contract from scope
  • Poor scans go to a person
Clause reader

Sets the clause's words beside the facts on file.

  • Never says a clause applies
Clock keeper

Starts and watches each clock from the clause's own terms.

  • Never stops a clock without a logged delivery or counsel's decision
Notice drafter

Drafts, checks address and method, and logs delivery.

  • Never sends without counsel
Received-notice reader

Checks notices received against their own clause.

  • Never accepts or rejects one
Evidence and relief tracker

Tracks proof, updates, last dates and closing notices.

  • Never alters a document
  • Never ends relief

Legal and safety calls the product leaves to people

Agents prepare. Senior counsel and the terminal duty manager decide.

Whether the clause appliesThe clause reader sets words beside facts. Senior counsel decides, contract by contract.
Whether a notice goesThe analyst prepares and cannot decide. Counsel reads the clause, the letters and the draft first.
Leaving a contract outA person reads a sample of each group and a second person signs the scope.
Anything about the jetty or the berthsSafety questions go word for word to the terminal duty manager's queue, never answered by the product.

What one force majeure event draws on

Read only, from the systems the legal and terminal teams keep.

Contract repositorySale, supply, shipping, construction and service contracts, with clauses
CorrespondenceLater letters that move a notice address or change terms
Terminal operations logThe duty log and berth status, owned by the terminal
Outside noticesHarbor master notices and river gauge readings
Insurance policiesEach policy's notice clock and waiting period

What counsel and contract teams ask about force majeure notices

What is a force majeure notice?

A force majeure notice tells the other party that an event beyond your control is stopping or delaying performance, as the contract's force majeure clause requires. Each clause sets its own deadline, form, address and contents. This solution finds the contracts an event touches, times each force majeure notice by its own clause and drafts it for counsel to decide.

How does it find the notice deadline in each contract?

The clock keeper reads the clock from the clause itself: hours from the start of the event, business days, or from awareness. Clauses with no fixed clock sort on counsel's working target, shown in a band of their own.

What if notice is a condition precedent to relief?

The clause reader marks it on the line, and those lines sit with the shortest clocks. Counsel still decides whether the clause applies and whether to send.

How does it know the notice address is current?

The notice drafter checks the address in the contract against later letters in correspondence. If a letter moved it, the check fails, shows the letter, and the analyst corrects the draft before counsel sees it.

Does it handle notices we receive?

Yes. The received-notice reader checks each one against its own clause and lists what it leaves out, such as an expected duration. Counsel decides any reply.

Does anything go out without a lawyer?

No. Agents draft. The analyst prepares and sends to counsel, and only senior counsel's decision, after reading the sources, releases a notice.

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Name one site
and its contract register.

Tell us about one event you lived through; we rebuild its notice clocks with you from the clauses.

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