National Association of Postmasters of the United States v. Hyatt Regency Washington
District of Columbia Court of Appeals
894 A.2d 471 (2006)
NAPUS (plaintiff) contracted with Hyatt Regency Washington (defendant) for room blocks at February leadership conferences from 2002 to 2004, with the contract including both a cancellation option (allowing cancellation with liquidated damages) and a for-cause clause (allowing fee-free cancellation for acts of God, war, terrorism, disaster, or other emergencies). After a 2002 arbitration ruling unexpectedly moved mandatory Rural Mail Counts from September to February for 2003 and 2004, directly conflicting with NAPUS's February conferences, NAPUS notified Hyatt, could not agree on rescheduled terms, and terminated the contract, seeking a declaration it had cancelled for cause or that performance was impracticable; Hyatt sued for liquidated damages under the cancellation option, and the trial court granted Hyatt summary judgment, which NAPUS appealed.
Whether, to establish impracticability of performing under a contract, a party must show that the risk of the unexpected occurrence making performance impracticable was not allocated by the contract.