This chapter deals with the statutory policing of exemption clauses under the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977 (UCTA) and addresses the changes to the law made by the Consumer Rights Act 2015. It explains the structure of UCTA and how to use it. It considers the different types of situations in which exemption clauses fall within it, under different sections (e.g. s 2 negligence, s 3 written standard terms of business, s 6 and s 7 goods contracts), and the need to consider whether a section renders a clause automatically ineffective or subjects it to the requirement of reasonableness. It looks at the application of the requirement of reasonableness and factors which have been identified as significant, such as the potential for insurance, the availability of alternatives, and reasons for a level of limitation. It considers the meaning of the UCTA’s definition of ‘deals as consumer’.
Chapter
10. Exemption clauses and legislation
Chapter
6. Exemption clauses and unfair contract terms
Robert Merkin KC, Séverine Saintier, and Jill Poole
Course-focused and comprehensive, Poole’s Textbook on Contract Law provides an accessible overview of the key areas of the law curriculum. A clause which seeks either to exclude a party’s liability for breach or to limit that liability to a specified amount is known as an exemption clause. It is also possible for exemption clauses to seek to exclude or limit the remedies which would otherwise be available for breach or seek to deny that any breach of contract or breach of a duty of care has occurred. Although such clauses can allocate risks between the parties and prevent duplicate insurance cover, both the courts and the Parliament in the UK have sought to control their use. An exemption clause is enforceable if the clause in question is incorporated as a term, covers the loss that has occurred in the circumstances in which it arose, and is not rendered unenforceable by either the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977 (B2B contracts) or Part 2 of the Consumer Rights Act 2015 (B2C contracts). This chapter examines the construction of exemption clauses as well as the legislative regulation of exemption clauses and, in the consumer context, unfair terms.
Chapter
6. Misrepresentation
The Concentrate Questions and Answers series offers the best preparation for tackling exam questions. Each book includes typical questions, answer plans and suggested answers, author commentary, and other features. Misrepresentation is defined as a false statement of fact, made pre-contractually, which is intended to induce the representee to enter into a contract and which has that effect. If an actionable misrepresentation is found to exist a court will then need to consider the available remedies. This chapter considers the following issues relevant to answering any problem question on misrepresentation. Has there been a false statement of fact? Is there evidence of inducement? What type of misrepresentation has potentially been made? What remedies are potentially available? Has liability for misrepresentation been effectively excluded? Has there been a breach of contract?
