O'Malley contracts to deliver a crop of organic mandarin oranges to Pete's Natural Produce Mart. An unexpected freeze destroys the oranges in O'Malley's orchard. Pete's insists that O'Malley deliver by acquiring the oranges on the open market. O'Malley claims that this is prohibitively expensive. The best argument against enforcing the contract is
A) frustration of purpose.
B) objective impossibility of performance.
C) anticipatory repudiation.
D) commercial impracticability.

Question

O'Malley contracts to deliver a crop of organic mandarin oranges to Pete's Natural Produce Mart. An unexpected freeze destroys the oranges in O'Malley's orchard. Pete's insists that O'Malley deliver by acquiring the oranges on the open market. O'Malley claims that this is prohibitively expensive. The best argument against enforcing the contract is​
A) ​frustration of purpose.
B) ​objective impossibility of performance.
C) ​anticipatory repudiation.
D) ​commercial impracticability.

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Commercial impracticability applies when performance becomes excessively burdensome or expensive due to unforeseen events, like the unexpected freeze in this case.

O'Malley Contracts to Deliver a Crop of Organic Mandarin Oranges