Contractor has contract with no start date is the contract valid under NY contract law

If you have a defense it is in your contract, and even then it is probably not adequate. I haven't seen the contract terms, so all I can do is tell you that if you have a force majeure clause it probably would excuse the weather delay but would probably not cover the injury delay. Even though the inury was not within your control, it was still possible to do the work by hiring others to do it. If that was not possible because of your personal circumstances, that means the delay was caused by a combination of your injury and your limited financial resources. The injury was not within your control but the financial resource problem was. It was your decision not to buy adequate temporary disabilty insurance. So it would have taken a very broad force majeure clause to cover this delay.

Your best move is to attempt to settle with the planitiffs. If you can't, then take your chances in small claims. Use your weather delay execuse and your injury excuse, regardless of whether your contract has a force majeure clause and regardless of what it says. Sometimes you win even if you don't have good cards.

This answer must not be relied on as legal advice for the reasons posted here: http://davidphipps.com/docs/Disclaimer.doc . And I am not your attorney.

David