Coronavirus: Couple’s force majeure nightmare

The wedding of Naheen Mahbub and Cindy Luu has become a nightmare after a dispute with the reception venue.

Sydney couple Naheen Mahbub and Cindy Luu outside Doltone House in Sydney. Picture: John Feder.

It was meant to be the happiest day of their lives.

But for Sydney couple Naheen Mahbub and Cindy Luu their wedding celebration has become a nightmare as the venue meant to host their dream reception continues to hold $35,000 of their money with no resolution in sight.

The pair were due to tie the knot at one of Sydney’s luxury Doltone House venues — Jones Bay Wharf — on April 17, just after wedding guest numbers were ­restricted by the state government under coronavirus restrictions.

The contract the couple signed with Doltone House includes a force majeure clause, stating that in the event of unforeseen circumstances — including “government sanctions” like those enacted to prevent the spread of COVID-19 — “no party shall be liable for any failure to perform its obligations’’.

It goes onto state that Doltone House “may cancel a booking … if there is a force majeure event” and, in doing so, “refund the deposit to the client”.

According to the couple, Dolt­one House — which owns four different venues in Sydney — has offered only postponements and is refusing to cancel their event under the clause. “We feel like we’re being forced into postponing our wedding,” Mr Mahbub said.

“The key issue is that we had a lot of international guests booked to attend our reception and Dolt­one cannot guarantee, even if we postpone, that international borders will be open and that we can still have the wedding we’ve paid for for the same number of guests.”

Mahbub, 29 and Luu, 31, met at work five years ago and decided to get married in a small ceremony on March 28 with friends and family watching via Zoom.

“What really frustrates me is that the venue can only offer us a date in a year’s time and we’d ­already waited a year for our original date,” Ms Luu said.

Mr Mahbub said the company was using “fear tactics” to convince couples to sign postponement contracts that introduce a higher 30 per cent initial deposit (up from 15 per cent) and also make it non-refundable, which he claims wasn’t explicitly stated in the original agreement.

A representative for Doltone House told The Australian they were “never going to make everybody happy”. “(The contracts) say we may cancel an event, but we chose to offer postponements with 100 per cent credit of all monies, and a new date and 95 per cent of clients have agreed to that,” the spokeswoman said.

“There’s obviously a lot of emotions … you’re never going to make everybody happy in that regard.”

The spokeswoman said negotiations were being pursued on a case-by-case basis and that Dolt­one House had to stand down 400 employees due to coronavirus.

Chris Lillie, a senior counsel in contract law at Bennett & Philp, said force majeure clauses were “complex and not well litigated”.

“The question will be if the specific wedding date was fundamental and if it’s really critical to the contract then you can’t postpone that date,” Mr Lillie said.

Mr Lillie said the way companies handle the pandemic would ­reflect how much they “value their brand”.

There will be no restrictions on wedding size from next Wednesday in NSW, with venues required to adhere to the one person per 4 sqm rule. NSW Fair Trading is encouraging “all businesses to work with their customers and treat customers fairly in these ­exceptional circumstances”.