{"id":5107,"date":"2018-03-07T09:26:58","date_gmt":"2018-03-07T09:26:58","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2019-07-16T12:40:30","modified_gmt":"2019-07-16T12:40:30","slug":"r-b-customs-brokers-v-udt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lawteacher.net\/cases\/r-b-customs-brokers-v-udt.php","title":{"rendered":"R&B Custom Brokers v United Dominions Trust Ltd – 1998"},"content":{"rendered":"

R&B Custom Brokers Co Ltd v United Dominions Trust Ltd [1998] 1 WLR 321<\/strong><\/p>\n

Meaning of \u201cconsumer\u201d and \u201cin the course of business\u201d in the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977<\/strong><\/p>\n

Facts<\/h3>\n

The Claimant were a company engaged in activity as a shipping broker and freight forwarding agent. The company was however very small \u2013 comprised of just two individuals. The Claimant company purchased a second hand car from the Defendant. However, the car turned out to be in poor condition in that its roof leaked. This was argued to violate s.14(3) of the Sale of Goods Act 1979<\/strong> on fitness for purpose. However, the contract for the purchase of the car included an exemption clause which sought to exclude liability under this requirement of the Sale of Goods Act 1979<\/strong>. The Claimant cited the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977<\/strong>, specifically section 6 thereof, which stipulates that that requirement of the Sale of Goods Act 1979 <\/strong>cannot be excluded by any contractual term. However, the Defendant argued that as the Claimant was a company, they had entered into this contract in the course of business and not as consumer, meaning that they could not rely on the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Issues<\/h3>\n

The issue in this case was whether the purchase agreement as made in the course of a business and therefore whether the Claimant could rely on the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Decision\/Outcome<\/h3>\n

It was held that in this instance the Claimant had entered into the contract as consumer. In order for the transaction to have been in the course of business for the purposes of s.12(1)(a) of the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977<\/strong>, the activity covered by the contract would have to be central to the business in question which was not the case here (the Claimant\u2019s business does not involve purchasing cars). Therefore, s.6 <\/strong>of the Act applies and the relevant provisions of the Sale of Goods Act 1979 <\/strong>remain mandatory \u2013 they cannot be excluded through the Defendant\u2019s exclusion clause.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The issue in this case was whether the purchase agreement as made in the course of a business and therefore whether the Claimant could rely…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[85],"class_list":["post-5107","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cases","tag-uk-law"],"yoast_head":"\nR&B Custom Brokers v United Dominions Trust Ltd - 1998 | LawTeacher.net<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The issue in this case was whether the purchase agreement as made in the course of a business and therefore whether the Claimant could rely...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.lawteacher.net\/cases\/r-b-customs-brokers-v-udt.php\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"R&B Custom Brokers v United Dominions Trust Ltd - 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