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Oracle cites 'force majeure' to shield itself on controversial data center

155 points · 153 comments · simonpure

  1. tiffanyh · · focus · HN ↗
    I realize there’s a lot of hate in this thread, but I think there’s another side to this.

    Force majeure is basically there for situations where something outside a company’s control prevents them from delivering on a contract.

    I can see Oracle’s argument here. A number of states and local governments that were originally very supportive of new data centers, including places like Texas and Pennsylvania, have since started blocking or restricting new construction.

    If Oracle signed these contracts and the government later changed the rules and have stopped those projects from moving forward, it’s hard to argue they should still be held to the same delivery commitments.

    (That seems pretty close to the type of situation force majeure is meant for.)

    1. ipython · · focus · HN ↗
      In that case, would the people caught unemployed and with upside down loans in the 2008 financial crisis would have a reasonable argument for "force majeure" to cancel their mortgages? ... After all, they had a reasonable expectation that the economy would continue to support their employment, either with their current employer or by finding a new job that paid just as well?

      at some point the phrases loses its meaning if it becomes applicable to pretty much anything.

      1. tiffanyh · · focus · HN ↗
        In your example, governments we not enacting new regulation that banned you from getting a new job.

        In this situation, governments are now enacting new regulation that ban companies like Oracle from building new data centers.

        1. deknos · · focus · HN ↗
          No, but the economic situation is banning you from getting a job, which is even more powerful than the government, especially when the government does not support a rising economy which will create jobs, people can build wealth with.

          so the argument is even stronger than for oracle.

          1. [deleted] · · focus · HN ↗

            [deleted]

      2. twoodfin · · focus · HN ↗
        Cancel their mortgages and keep their houses?

        I don’t think Oracle is proposing they get a data center they didn’t finish paying for.

      3. eli_gottlieb · · focus · HN ↗
        I mean yeah it's a political choice. Big firms get to call force majeure. Households do not.
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