specifically defined and, if contested, requires going to court. Thus, force majeure is more of a legal defense and may incur legal fees despite legitimacy, should the venue decide to sue for breach of contract. What comes to mind here is the old negotiation expression: “He who blinks first, loses.” As conditions deteriorated, more and more clients pulled the plug on scheduled events while citing the travel and lockdown restrictions as constituting a force majeure defense. Meanwhile, as infections spread and as restrictive country, state and local social-distancing meeting limitations were enacted, hospitality venues began to realize their untenable position. But even when it became abundantly clear that prevailing re- strictions and limitations would effectively prohibit such venues from performing their contractual event-related obligations, they (understandably) attempted to hold their clients’ feet to the fire. With our deposits clutched tightly in their fists, venues attempted to salvage future bookings by offering to reschedule the event at a later date without punitive consequences. At first, these proposed reschedule dates were typically a few months in the future, but gradually, they driſted into the following year, as a return to normalcy was unpredictable. Rescheduling major event dates introduces all sorts of issues and complications of near biblical proportions for ALOA and many other venue cli- ents. For us, rescheduling was simply not a viable solution, but we didn’t want to be sued either! Hungry for any scrap of good news, we felt that at least we had a strong breach of contract defense if we decided to pull the plug on any events scheduled for the first half of 2020. You might appreciate that the absolute last thing we needed was to incur legal expenses. Rescheduling for later in 2020 would introduce even greater risk, especially if the pandemic was somewhat sub- dued but still problematic for travel and gatherings. In other words, without the “force majeure” defense, we’d be in even worse shape should attendance and/or exhibitor participation materially fall off for the rescheduled event date. Compounding this were our existing contractual commitments for future events several years out. Around this time, we began to feel as if we somehow answered a casting call for extras in a new season of The Walking Dead, where threats lurked around every corner. No, we did not encounter any zombies, but we would not have been totally shocked if we did… it seemed like Murphy’s Law had completely taken over. It’s likely that at least some of SELECT THE OPTION THAT WORKS FOR YOU! Mix and Match Mortise/KIK/Rim Cylinders Minimum 10 cylinders to qualify, all on one order. Restricted keyways and master keyed jobs are discounted at the same rate. NEW DEALERS SAVINGS OF OVER 25% PLUS Giſt Card Opportunity! OPTION ONE $100 GIFT CARD QTY DESCRIPTION 100 Keyblanks 35-157 15 Mortise/KIK/Rim - Mix & Match! OPTION TWO 200 GIFT CARD $ QTY DESCRIPTION 200 Keyblanks 35-157 35 Mortise/KIK/Rim - Mix & Match! www.SouthernLock.com [email protected] OPTION THREE 40 Cylinders: $100 Giſt Card @SouthernLock facebook.com/SoLock Limit one deal per customer per month. Special ends 8/31/21 EXISTING DEALERS 10 Cylinders: $ OPTION ONE 25 Giſt Card OPTION TWO 20 Cylinders: $50 Giſt Card WWW.ALOA.ORG JULY/AUGUST 2021 KEYNOTES 19 GIFT CARD $25 GIFT CARD $$$ $100 GIFT CARD GIFT CARD $50
