La Vere v. R. M. Burritt Motors, Inc.

112 Misc. 2d 225, 446 N.Y.S.2d 851, 1982 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 3120
CourtOswego City Court
DecidedJanuary 22, 1982
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 112 Misc. 2d 225 (La Vere v. R. M. Burritt Motors, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Oswego City Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
La Vere v. R. M. Burritt Motors, Inc., 112 Misc. 2d 225, 446 N.Y.S.2d 851, 1982 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 3120 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1982).

Opinion

OPINION OF THE COURT

Frank M. Klinger, J.

Plaintiff in this action purchased a car from the defendant. The circumstances involved in negotiating the purchase do not appear to be particularly unusual or extraordinary. The salesman, Doug Waterbury, who in his testimony describes himself as “a very enterprising young man”, apparently did a good job of selling a truck to the plaintiff. It certainly could not even be claimed by the plaintiff that the salesman Waterbury’s claimed conversation or tactics were in any way fraudulent, unconscionable or out of the ordinary for a used car salesman, with the possible exception of the alleged remark that if the plaintiff was not satisfied with the truck, he “could give it back”. Such a remark even if made, is excluded by the parol evidence rule.

The parties reduced their agreement to writing and a written contract was signed. The front of this contract in bold letters states “no warranty, as is!” An additional term of the agreement states: “5. Disclaimer of Warranties. I UNDERSTAND THAT YOU EXPRESSLY DISCLAIM ALL WARRAN[226]*226TIES, EITHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING ANY IMPLIED WARRANTY OR MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND THAT YOU NEITHER ASSUME NOR AUTHORIZE ANY OTHER PERSON TO ASSUME FOR YOU ANY LIABILITY IN CONNECTION WITH THE SALE OF THE VEHICLE, except BS otherwise provided in writing by you in an attachment to this Agreement or in a document delivered to me when the vehicle is delivered.”

The front of the agreement states that the customer will take the vehicle on condition it is inspected, the rattle checked and his loan approved.

There is no dispute as to the fact that the truck was inspected and the plaintiff’s loan was approved. Mr. Waterbury testified that the rattle was checked, proved to be a problem with the shock absorber, which was tightened and fixed, and that the rattle was not present when the plain- - - tiff finally picked up the vehicle. The plaintiff claims the rattle was present when he picked up the vehicle. He, nonetheless, according to him (in literal contradiction to the terms of the contract) took the vehicle.

It is elementary hornbook law that, absent fraud, the parties to a written agreement are bound by the written terms of their agreement. The court will not rewrite a contract freely entered into by the two parties — even if the contract may be grossly favorable or unfavorable to either party. (See Simpson, Contracts [2d ed], pp 1-7, 86-88.)

“The fairness of an agreed exchange is legally irrelevant. The law will not inquire into whether the price exacted for the promise is inadequate in value to the performance promised, so long as it has some value.” {Id., p 86; emphasis added.)

Moreover the common law was codified and particularized by section 2-316 of the Uniform Commercial Code which states in pertinent part that “all implied warranties are excluded by expressions like ‘as is’, ‘with all faults’ or other language which in common understanding calls the buyer’s attention to the exclusion of warranties and makes plain that there is no implied warranty”.

[227]*227The plaintiff’s claim further appears doomed by subdivision (1) of section 2-302 of the Uniform Commercial Code which states as follows: “(1) If the court as a matter of law finds the contract or any clause of the contract to have been unconscionable at the time it was made the court may refuse to enforce the contract, or it may enforce the remainder of the contract without the unconscionable clause, or it may so limit the application of any unconscionable clause as to avoid any unconscionable result.”

At this point in time it would seem that even a first-year law student would be certain that the plaintiff could not possibly have any cause of action for breach of contract or rescission.

In fact, however, plaintiff testified — and it was not disputed — that he was only able to drive the vehicle three blocks to his house when the vehicle “broke down”. The plaintiff called the defendant. The defendant came and got the truck started and brought it back to the defendant’s shop where it still remains. The plaintiff wishes to reject the item and rescind the contract altogether. The question is whether he has the right to such rejection.

Were we permitted to rewrite or simply ignore the parties’ contract, we might readily agree that such a result would certainly not be unjust or unconscionable. The plaintiff only drove the truck for three blocks and its return by him to the defendant, together with the return by the defendant to the plaintiff of the purchase price, would be an equitable result.

Courts, however, are not permitted to ignore or destroy contracts merely to accomplish an equitable result. To do so would be to nullify hundreds of years of contract law, and to deprive the parties of the rights and benefits they deserve when they freely enter into agreement with each other. By putting the terms of their agreements in writing, parties insure that their intentions will be carried out. If a court can simply destroy a valid written contract “to do equity”, there would be little purpose in making a contract and the parties would never be able to know with certainty what their rights and obligations are.

The plaintiff’s only legal claim pursuant to this contract against the defendant is that the vehicle breached the [228]*228implied warranty of merchantability. To make this claim, plaintiff must establish that the “no warranty, as is” provisions are unconscionable. They cannot be unconscionable per se — they are specifically provided for by statute. Plaintiff’s only claim, therefore, can be that they are unconscionable under these particular circumstances.

The contract in the case at bar clearly does not appear to be unconscionable when made (Uniform Commercial Code, § 2-302, subd [1]) — only by resort to subsequent facts does the apparent unconscionability appear.

Inasmuch as neither party provided any memorandum of law to the court, the issue could simply have been left at that point.

The court, however, has found as an annotation to section 2-302 of the Uniform Commercial Code the case of Industralease Automated & Scientific Equip. Corp. v R.M.E. Enterprises (58 AD2d 482). There the defendant entered into a written agreement providing for no warranties and specifically disclaiming any warranty, expressed or implied. The manner in which this agreement was obtained was subject, according to the court, to “procedural unconscionability”, but inasmuch as the Appellate Division, Second Department, specifically indicated that both procedural and substantive unconscionability were present, we proceed to the latter.

The essence of the court holding was that

“Although the statute prescribes that we are to determine unconscionability as of the time of the making of the contract (Uniform Commercial Code, § 2-302), we cannot divorce entirely the events which occur later. In this case, the evidence plainly establishes that the equipment did not work at all, that it achieved none of the purposes of the parties. This is a result so ‘one-sided’, in the words of the authors of the Official Comment to the Uniform Commercial Code, that the disclaimer in good conscience should not be enforced. In effect the equipment was worthless (see Vlases v Montgomery Ward & Co., 377 F2d 846, 850).

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112 Misc. 2d 225, 446 N.Y.S.2d 851, 1982 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 3120, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/la-vere-v-r-m-burritt-motors-inc-nyoswegocityct-1982.