Fatal Deadline
Tags: deadline, delivery time, fatal deadline, fatal delivery time, fatale deadline, fatale oplevertermijn, oplevertermijn.
When an agreement has a strict deadline and has been exceeded without result, the debtor is automatically in default and no notice of default is required. However, with regard to contracts involving IT projects, such a deadline is not often adopted.
One of the characteristics of IT projects is that in most cases they do not meet the given deadline. With this in mind, the judge will not often rule that a deadline is fatal, but that the deadlines in this agreement are in principle not fatal.
For IT projects, it is therefore sensible to send a notice of default to the debtor after the deadline has passed – also if there is any doubt whether it might be a fatal deadline – so that the debtor is offered a recovery option. If she does not use this recovery option, she is still in default and you can take further action as a creditor.
Does your company or organization have problems with a (fatal) deadline/delivery period? Call or email Wouter Dammers from LAWFOX to get an initial estimate of the situation.
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