Watson Laboratories sued Rhone-Poulenc for failing to supply a drug and competing in the same market. Rhone-Poulenc claimed a force majeure event (unforeseeable circumstance) excused their breach. The court ruled that force majeure cannot excuse breach when the triggering event was foreseeable at the time the contract was signed, or when the breaching party had reasonable control over the situation. This means you cannot use unexpected events as an excuse if you should have seen them coming or could have prevented them.
Force majeure clauses only protect you from truly unforeseeable events—not ones that were predictable when you signed the contract
If you had reasonable control over the problem (like managing your own facility), you cannot claim force majeure as a defense