Multistate Bar Examination Practice Question

The legal doctrine of impossibility excuses a party from performing under a contract when an unforeseen event occurs that makes performance objectively impossible and is not the fault of the party claiming the excuse. In this scenario, the natural disaster destroyed the venue, making it physically impossible for the musician to perform at the agreed location. Impossibility applies because the performance cannot occur as originally anticipated. Other doctrines, such as frustration of purpose, focus on the loss of the contract’s value or purpose, not on the impossibility of performance itself. Impracticability, while similar, is not strictly limited to events that make performance wholly impossible but to those that create extreme difficulty or expense, which may not apply here.