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Law Notes Contract Law Notes

Incorporation Of Unsigned And Signed Documents Notes

Updated Incorporation Of Unsigned And Signed Documents Notes

Contract Law Notes

Contract Law

Approximately 65 pages

This class was co-taught by Dr. Ian Kerr, Canada Research Chair in Ethics, Law and Technology Dr. Anne Uteck at the University of Ottawa. Professor Kerr taught Part I of the course, and Professor Uteck completed Part II of the course pertinent to remedies....

The following is a more accessible plain text extract of the PDF sample above, taken from our Contract Law Notes. Due to the challenges of extracting text from PDFs, it will have odd formatting:

TOPIC 2: INCORPORATION OF UNSIGNED/SIGNED DOCUMENTS

Exclusion clause: can exclude particular types of liability, all liability, or impose a cap on liability. Ex. insurance losses, car rental contracts, release by bungee jumpers, dry cleaning receipt, ticket master). Some are incorporated and others are not. Exclusion clauses put consumers in a weaker position, but they are tools to maintain economic viability.

WITH EXCLUSION CLAUSES:

  1. Ask whether clause has been incorporated into K (notice or signature must be provided)

  2. If reasonable notice is not at issue, does exclusion clause extend to loss in question? (interpretive)

With unsigned documents, the general rule is that parties must give reasonable notice of an unsigned term in order to ensure the signee is bound by it (Parker v South Eastern Ry Co). Parker concerned a person who had left luggage with a railway room and was given a ticket with a limitation of liability clause on the back. The customer did not read the back of the ticket, his luggage was lost, and he claimed damages successfully due to lack of reasonable notice.

A waiver is a form of exclusion clause and can be unwritten or signed. They are subject to the contra pro forentum rule which reinforces language of the waiver and scope of protection provided. General Rule = waiver is not enforceable unless reasonable notice has been provided by the party relying on it at or before time of K formation. Unless such notice is given, the waiver does not become a part of the offer in the contract. The test for determining whether notice was given is objective and asks whether a reasonable person would know that the waiver was intended to be a term of the contract. This requires a close analysis of the facts concerning the size, location, font and position of the waiver. It may be argued that consideration is absent in waivers or that past consideration is no consideration (Consider signing waiver at bottom of ski hill then going up). Like an exemption or exclusion clause, waivers of liability must be construed against party protected by the clause. Judges will look to the meaning of the language used in the waiver and the scope of protection affected by it. Waivers are weak if they do not cover the negligent conduct at issue.

There are very limited situations in which someone is not bound by what they have signed: 1) non est factum (I didn’t know what I was signing because I was supposed to be signing something totally different), 2) misrepresentation 3) onerous provision.

CASE RATIO FACTS REASONS

Thornton v Shoe Lane Parking Ltd 1971

PARKING INJURY

I: Does the contractual document printed on ticket exclude DF from personal injury liability?

D: no; appeal dismissed

In addition to providing reasonable notice of an unsigned term, if the clause is onerous, notice must be provided explicitly.

- PL suffered injuries in multi story park that DF were occupying

- DF appealing on grounds that ticket issued by parking machine was a contractual document

- personal injury exclusion of liability not listed anywhere on ticket or signs

- Denning: ticket is receipt of payment, and acceptance was entry into the lot

- exempting condition on personal injury cannot be part of the contract – it was not brought to the attention of the PL.

Interfoto Picture Library Ltd v Stiletto Visual Programmes Ltd (1989) CA, England

TRANSPARENCIES

I: Is condition 2 part of the contract?

D: No; appeal allowed (judgment reduced)

Incorporation of unsigned provisions in a contract requires drawing...

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