Duress is where someone forces another into a bad position, eg by setting the house on fire first. Duress only implies impaired judgment of the contract signer

Duress is where someone forces another into a bad position, eg by setting the house on fire first. Duress only implies impaired judgment of the contract signer as due to immediate fear; it doesn’t imply the other party created the situation. Any lawyer would easily argue that the fire department charged an irrationally high cost for fire fighting that the home owner wouldn’t have agreed to had they had time to fully weight the cost and benefits of fire fighting services. In the worst case, one only need say they planned to demolish the house in the near future and therefore paying to have the fire extinguished was irrational. A contract for non-insurance, pay-for-use fire fighting would only be enforceable if signed before the fact.