force majeure clauses in a contract supersede the common law doctrine of impossibility.6 early illinois cases focused on the common law doctrine of impossibility to determine whether a party is excused from performance. there is a greater amount of authority in illinois applying the doctrine of impossibility to a diverse array of construction contracts. in language applicable to the covid-19 orders, the court in moffit stated: the “takeover” by the state was wholly unforeseeable and not in any manner the fault of the city. in bunn v. prather,24 an attorney was to be paid funds arising out of the client’s sale of property after the attorney obtained a court order. this would, of course, assume that the tenant did not assume this risk in a commercial lease.