ALTHOUGH THE CONTRACT WAS BETWEEN SOPHISTICATED PARTIES, THE CLAUSE “THE OWNER AND ARCHITECT AGREE TO MUTUALLY WAIVE EACH OTHER [SIC] RIGHT TO SUE OR PLACE CLAIMS AGAINST EACH OTHER” WAS VOID AS AGAINST PUBLIC POLICY (SECOND DEPT).

The Second Department, reversing (modifying) Supreme Court, determined the contract clause “THE OWNER AND ARCHITECT AGREE TO MUTUALLY WAIVE EACH OTHER [sic] RIGHT TO SUE OR PLACE CLAIMS AGAINST EACH OTHER” was unenforceable as against public policy:

… [T]he waiver provision … purports to completely foreclose the possibility of any form of judicial or nonjudicial review. Although … the agreement was negotiated at arm’s length between sophisticated parties, freedom of contract is not merely an individual right, and enforcing the waiver provision has implications beyond the individual choices of the contracting parties … . In 159 MP Corp. v Redbridge Bedford, LLC (33 NY3d 353), the Court of Appeals upheld a waiver precluding the plaintiffs from commencing a declaratory judgment action. The Court of Appeals noted that “[c]ritically, the waiver clause at issue here does not preclude access to the courts but leaves available other judicial avenues through which plaintiffs may adjudicate their rights under the leases” … . The Court of Appeals specified that “the waiver does not impair plaintiffs’ ability to seek damages on breach of contract or tort theories” … .

Here, in contrast, the waiver provision precludes access to the courts and leaves no judicial or nonjudicial avenues through which the plaintiff may adjudicate his rights under the agreement. Thus, the waiver provision is void and unenforceable as against public policy … . Hochhauser v Urban Off. Architecture, PLLC, 2026 NY Slip Op 04491, Second Dept 7-22-26

Practice Point: A contract clause with waives all access to the courts is void as against public policy.​