YPI 180 N. LaSalle Owner, LLC v. 180 N. LaSalle II, LLC

Younan agreed to buy commercial property from LaSalle (defendant) for $124 million and assigned its rights to YPI (plaintiff), with both jointly and severally liable and $6 million in non-refundable earnest money already paid. When Younan's expected lender withdrew financing during the 2008 credit crisis, YPI could not close; LaSalle terminated the contract and kept the deposit. YPI sued to rescind the contract and recover the deposit, arguing the global credit crisis made performance impossible — despite Younan's assets exceeding $1.6 billion.

Whether the doctrine of impossibility excuses performance where the cause of the impossibility is foreseeable.