Alerts
Covid-19 | The São Paulo Court of Appeals grants injunction for shopping mall to pay only for the energy consumed in “take or pay” contract
On 5/8/2020, Judge Antonio Rigolin, of the 31st Chamber of Private Law of the São Paulo Court of Appeals, granted an injunction requested by a mall, authorizing the payment only of the electricity consumed, instead of the minimum monthly amount provided for in the contract agreed by the parties. The full decision in Portuguese can be accessed here.
The decision considered that the governmental measures that instituted the closing of the malls constitute a force majeure event, which would be preventing the fulfillment of the contract under the terms agreed by the parties.
This decision changed the previous decision issued by the 2nd Court of Business Law and Arbitration Conflicts of São Paulo/SP on 4/5/2020 (full wording here), which had dismissed the mall’s request for considering that the measure violates the logic of business contracts organized in the “take or pay” form.
