The coronavirus pandemic has elevated “force majeure”—a rarely used, relatively obscure contract provision—to a top-of-mind issue for companies scrambling to figure out where gaps are forming in their supply chain.

Aaron Nicodemus is the Editor-in-Chief of Compliance Week. He previously worked as a reporter for Bloomberg Law and as business editor at the Telegram & Gazette in Worcester, Mass. Email: aaron.nicodemus@complianceweek.com LinkedIn:...