Skip to main content

Search

Consumer Warranty Law: 13.9 Attorney Fees

Attorney fees are generally not recoverable absent contractual or statutory authority.495 UCC Article 2 does not explicitly provide for the recovery of attorney fees. Whether attorney fees can be recovered as an element of actual damages under the UCC is discussed in § 10.7, supra.

Consumer Warranty Law: 1.3.1 UCC Case Law

A number of services and treatises make it relatively easy to access case law under the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC). For example, the Uniform Commercial Code Reporting Service70 contains the full text of the UCC portions of a large number of UCC cases. A case digest, organized on a section-by-section basis corresponding to UCC sections, quickly leads the reader to case citations for a particular state concerning a particular UCC section.

Consumer Warranty Law: 1.3.2 Official Comments to the UCC

Although not part of the law,76 the official comments to each section of the UCC are vital to using the Code. Not only are they rich with buyer protection explanations, but they are “indispensable to a knowledge of the Code.”77 The preface to the Code states that the comments are “one of the indispensable features” of the UCC.

Consumer Warranty Law: 1.3.3 Legislative History of Individual State UCC Enactments

At least twenty-two states have some local legislative history behind their enactment of the UCC. Contained in hearings, studies, or reports,90 such history is especially valuable in explaining any non-uniform amendments a state has made.91 Some of the states’ legislative history appears as state comments to each section, in addition to the official comments.

Consumer Warranty Law: 1.4.2 Sale

Article 2 applies to “transactions in goods,”101 not just sales, but many of the key warranty provisions apply only to a “sale” or “contract for sale” of goods, or only to a “seller.”102 A sale “consists in the passing of title from the seller to the buyer for a price.”103 An installment sales contract is a transaction in goods even though it also involves financing.104 The consideration for a sale ma

Consumer Warranty Law: 1.4.3 Used Goods

The Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act covers consumer products, without any distinction as to whether the product is new or used. The product must simply be “tangible personal property which is distributed in commerce and which is normally used for personal, family, or household purposes.”113

Consumer Warranty Law: 1.1.1 Overview

This treatise on consumer warranty law addresses the rights of consumers when personal property they have purchased or leased does not meet their expectations. The book focuses on defective new and used cars, manufactured homes, automobile repairs, home improvements, and wheelchairs and other assistive devices. It also analyzes common law and statutory warranties that arise in the sale of a new house or condominium. The treatise only indirectly touches on warranty rights concerning other real property transactions or personal property purchased for business purposes.