Tag: Limitation of Liability

Contractual Exculpatory Provisions and Procedural and Substantive Unconscionability – Some Illinois Bullet-Points

Exculpatory and limitation of damages provisions are staples of commercial transactions; especially in the service contract setting.  The former shields a contracting party from all liability (“if something goes wrong, I’m not responsible”), while the latter caps a party’s monetary damages (“if something goes wrong, my maximum liability is $100”).

For decades, cases across the land have grappled with the validity and enforceability of these contract terms.  Generally, whether a given disclaimer is upheld comes down to a fact-specific analysis of the terms’ prominence and text size (can you find it?) along with the nuances of the parties’ relationship. (is a dominant person taking advantage of a more vulnerable person?)

 Exculpatory Provisions

Illinois favors freedom of contract and exculpatory provisions are generally enforceable unless (1) it’s against public policy to do so or (2) there is something in the social relationship of the parties which weighs against enforcing the term.

Exculpatory terms are not favored and must be strictly construed against the benefitting party, especially where that party drafted the contract.

An exculpatory clause violates public policy where (1) the contract involves an employer-employee relationship, (2) is between the public and those charged with a public duty (i.e. a common carrier or utility), or (3) there is a disparity in bargaining power between the parties so that freedom of choice is lacking.

Courts also look at whether Disclaimers are unconscionable.  Procedural unconscionability applies where the disclaimer is hard to find, buried or hidden.

A contract term is substantively unconscionable where it’s blatantly one-sided and completely favors one party at the expense of the other.

 Illinois’ Construction Contract Indemnification for Negligence Act, 740 ILCS 35/1 posits that agreements to indemnify against a contractor’s negligence are void as against public policy. 

Illinois Disclaimer rules glaringly reflect the importance of pre-contract negotiation.  Parties are free to allocate risks as they see fit and where they are both sophisticated commercial entities, freedom of contract rules prevail and exculpatory clauses will be upheld – save for any public policy reasons against their enforcement.

 

 

 

Seventh Circuit Upholds Limitation of Liability Clause in Construction Contract

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In Sams Hotel Group, LLC v. Environs, Inc., 2013 WL 2402824, the Seventh Circuit upheld an Indiana district court’s validation of a contractual limitation of liability clause against a hotel developer.  In its ruling, the Court examined some recurring commercial litigation issues including the economic loss rule, and the standards that govern contractual indemnification and limitation of liability clauses. 

Facts: The owner and defendant architect entered into a $70,000 contract for the design of a six-story hotel in Indiana.  A little over a year later, when the hotel was nearly complete, numerous defects surfaced and the property ultimately had to be demolished.  The hotel never opened and the owner brought negligence and breach of contract claims against the architect.  The owner claimed it sustained over $4 million in damages due to the architect’s negligent hotel design. 

Trial Result: The Indiana district court granted summary judgment to the architect on the negligence claim based on the economic loss rule.  This rule (known as the Moorman doctrine in IL) posits that a plaintiff cannot recover for purely economic loss in tort where a contract governs the parties’ relationship – absent any personal injury or damage to other property. 

Once the owner’s negligence count was out, the parties went to trial on the owner’s  breach of contract claim.  The court ruled in the owner’s favor on that count but pared down its damages to the $70,000 architectural services contract price.  This was a harsh result considering the owner was claiming damages sixty times this amount!  The owner appealed its Pyrrhic victory to the Seventh Circuit.

The Court (applying Indiana law – this was a diversity suit) affirmed.  It first held that parties are free to enter into contracts and bargain as they see fit. * 2.  Contracts will be enforced as written absent the involvement of a consumer or a contract of adhesion (a “take it or leave it” scenario).  Since the property owner and architectural firm were sophisticated commercial entities with equal bargaining power, the Court enforced the contract’s $70,000 maximum liability amount.

The Court rejected the owner’s argument that the limitation of liability clause was an impermissible indemnification against negligence clause because it allowed the architect to avoid significant liability for its negligent design services.  *2-3. 

The Court distinguished limitation of liability provisions from contractual indemnification terms.  Limitation of liability clauses “serve to establish a contractual ceiling” on awardable damages while indemnification terms completely shield or insure a party against his own negligence. *3. 

In the latter indemnity situation, if a party wants to be indemnified for its own negligence, the contract must “clearly and unequivocally” provide that a party will pay for another’s negligence.  *2. But limitation of liability clauses can be less specific  – especially where the contracting parties are on an equal bargaining footing.  *3.

Take-aways.  In Indiana, limitation of liability provisions (which cap damages at a specific amount) are subject to less scrutiny than contractual exculpatory clauses (which completely insure a party against his own negligence).

This relaxed standard for damage limitations is even more prominent in contracts between two sophisticated commercial entities. Parties to high-dollar construction contracts should be leery of contractual terms which cap damages.