''St Albans City and DC v International Computers Ltd'' EWCA Civ 1296
is an English contract law">996
EWCA Civ 1296
is an English contract law case, concerning unfair terms under the

Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977 The Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977 (c. 50) is an act of Parliament of the United Kingdom which regulates contracts by restricting the operation and legality of some contract terms. It extends to nearly all forms of contract and one of its most ...

. The parties were St Albans City and District, St Albans City and District Council and International Computers Limited.

Facts

A contract to provide software (COMCIS) for the implementation of the

Community Charge The Community Charge, colloquially known as the Poll Tax, was a system of local taxation introduced by Margaret Thatcher's government whereby each taxpayer was taxed the same fixed sum (a "poll tax" or " head tax"), with the precise amount bei ...

("poll tax") of International Computers Ltd limited its liability to £100,000. The software was meant to create a register of tax payers. Because of errors in the software, the loss to the council was £1,313,846. The council claimed breach of contract, and that the liability limitation was unreasonable under the

. International Computers Ltd claimed that the liability limitation should remain.

Judgment

Scott Baker awarded the full sum because the city council was operating on International Computers Ltd's written standard terms of business and so

UCTA 1977 The Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977 (c. 50) is an act of Parliament of the United Kingdom which regulates contracts by restricting the operation and legality of some contract terms. It extends to nearly all forms of contract and one of its most ...

section 3 applied. Sections 6 or 7 also applied and under section 11 the clause was unreasonable. Under section 11(4) Baker highlighted that International Computers Ltd had ample resources and had £50m worldwide product liability insurance. Looking at schedule 2, he said that the council was in a weaker bargaining position because they had financial restraints and were not in the commercial field. They had no opportunities of other contracts without the term. The council knew of the term and made representations about it. He noted (as in '' The Flamar Pride'') that schedule 2 should be taken into account just as with ss. 6–7. He summed up by saying that the loss of this size is better to fall on the company and not the local population through increased taxes or reduced services. The Court of Appeal upheld Baker's reasoning, but concluded the damages were in fact £484,000 less.

Notes

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References

*'' The Salvage Association v CAP Financial Services Ltd''

995 Year 995 (Roman numerals, CMXCV) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Japan * 17 May - Fujiwara no Michitaka (imperial regent) dies. * 3 June: Fujiwara no Michikane gains power and becomes Rege ...

FSR 655, failure to show evidence of why a particular limit is put in may lead to it being unreasonable *'' British Fermentation Products Ltd v Compair''

999 999 or triple nine most often refers to: * 999 (emergency telephone number), a telephone number for the emergency services in several countries * 999 (number), an integer * AD 999, a year * 999 BC, a year Media Books * 999 (anthology), ''99 ...

2 All ER (Comm) 389, Judge Bowsher QC had some trouble with the ‘written standard terms of business’ line in UCTA 1977 s 3, holding that the industry's model forms of contract did not mean using standard terms, because they were not BFP's own standard terms. English contract case law Court of Appeal (England and Wales) cases 1996 in United Kingdom case law St Albans City Council

Facts

Judgment

See also

Notes

References