Unfair Contracts Relief (2011) Project - British Columbia Law Institute

Quick facts about the Unfair Contracts Relief Project

Kevin Zakreski — Thu, 02 Feb 2017 17:00:37 +0000

This post is part of a series highlighting four projects endorsed in the Agenda for Justice 2017 published by the Canadian Bar Association, BC Branch. To read the other posts in the series click here.

About the project

BCLI’s Unfair Contracts Relief Project:

was carried out from 2009 to 2011 with the assistance of a seven-person volunteer project committee;
was supported by the Law Foundation of British Columbia;
featured a five-month consultation, which allowed the public to comment on 46 proposals for reform;
culminated in a final report containing draft legislation illustrating its recommendations, called the Contract Fairness Act.

What will the Contract Fairness Act do?

The Contract Fairness Act will:

clarify ambiguities in the contract-law concepts of unconscionability, duress, and undue influence, and provide a framework for integrating these three concepts;
provide that the duty of good faith is implied in the performance of all contracts and define what “good faith” means for the purposes of this duty;
fine-tune the law of contractual misrepresentation, primarily by addressing remedial anomalies in the current law.

Why should the legislature enact it?

The Contract Fairness Act will benefit British Columbians by:

providing a clearer and more accessible statement of the law;
ensuring that this area of contract law keeps pace with social and economic developments;
giving the courts enhanced remedial flexibility to tackle unfair contracts.

For more information on the Unfair Contracts Relief Project, please visit the project webpage.

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BCLI welcomes recognition in CBABC Agenda for Justice 2017

Kevin Zakreski — Wed, 01 Feb 2017 18:00:27 +0000

In its just-published Agenda for Justice 2017, the Canadian Bar Association, BC Branch, has endorsed four BCLI reports. This places these reports among the “series of justice and legislative reforms aimed at improving access to justice for all British Columbians” that make up the Agenda for Justice 2017.

“BCLI is grateful to receive CBABC’s endorsement of its work,” said BCLI chair Lisa A. Peters, QC. “We look forward to implementation of some or all of our recommendations by government in the future.”

The four reports endorsed in the Agenda for Justice 2017 are the Report on Proposals for Unfair Contracts Relief (2011), Report on Proposals for a New Commercial Tenancy Act (2009), Report on Reverse Mortgages (2006; a publication of BCLI’s division, the Canadian Centre for Elder Law), and Report on the Uniform Civil Enforcement of Money Judgments Act (2005).

For more information on these reports, please visit their respective project webpages. For more information on CBABC’s Agenda for Justice 2017, please visit CBABC’s website.

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Canadian Bar Association’s “Agenda for Justice” Urges Implementation of BCLI Reports

Alison Taylor — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 18:19:59 +0000

6 February 2013—The BC Branch of the Canadian Bar Association (CBA) urges the quick implementation of several BCLI reports in An Agenda for Justice, released on February 5, 2013. The CBA describes An Agenda for Justice as a “Platform Document” outlining short-term and long-term actions to increase the effectiveness of BC’s justice system and improve BC laws, which it is asking all candidates in the forthcoming election to support.

Among the steps that the CBA says can be taken at little or no cost to improve the justice system would be to implement BCLI recommendations on reverse mortgages, unfair contracts, and the enforcement of money judgments.

An Agenda for Justice also urges legislative action in other areas where BCLI has carried out extensive law reform work. It recommends that the Wills, Estates and Succession Act be brought into force as soon as possible. This Act, passed in 2009 but not yet in force, originated from a 2006 BCLI report. The CBA’s platform document also recommends introduction of an Unincorporated Non-Profit Associations Act for B.C., based on the work of the Uniform Law Conference of Canada (ULCC) in that area. BCLI played a prominent role in the ULCC project.

An Agenda for Justice also presses for enactment of a Franchise Act in BC, and mentions BCLI’s current project on this.

BCLI welcomes the CBA’s endorsement of its past and present work and recommendations.

The BCLI reports mentioned in the CBA BC Branch platform document An Agenda for Justice

are:

Report on Proposals for Unfair Contracts Relief

Report on Reverse Mortgages

Report on the Uniform Civil Enforcement of Money Judgments Act

Report on the Privacy Act of British Columbia

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BCLI Calls for Reforms to Address Unfair Contracts

Alison Taylor — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 21:05:00 +0000

28 September 2011—The British Columbia Law Institute has published today its Report on Proposals for Unfair Contracts Relief. The report recommends that British Columbia enact a Contract Fairness Act to consolidate and modernize the leading concepts that contract law deploys against contractual unfairness.

“The current law on contractual unfairness is largely found in court cases and this body of precedent contains needless complexities, gaps, and uncertainties,” noted committee chair Prof. Joost Blom, QC. “The time is ripe to address these issues and make the law more certain and accessible by enacting legislation.”

The proposed Contract Fairness Act will clarify vexing ambiguities in the application of unconscionability, duress, and undue influence, create a framework for integrating those concepts, provide for a duty of good faith in the performance of contracts and supply a definition of “good faith,” and address concerns about remedies for misrepresentation.

The Report on Proposals for Unfair Contracts Relief is the culmination of a major, two-year law-reform project that has been generously funded by the Law Foundation of British Columbia.

Copies of the report and two backgrounders summarizing its contents and main arguments are all available for downloading at no charge on the Unfair Contracts Relief project page.

The British Columbia Law Institute strives to be a leader in law reform by carrying out the best in scholarly law-reform research and writing and the best in outreach relating to law reform.

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Contact: Kevin Zakreski

Staff Lawyer

(604) 827-5336

kzakreski@bcli.org

The post BCLI Calls for Reforms to Address Unfair Contracts first appeared on British Columbia Law Institute.

BCLI Asks for Public Comment on Proposed Changes to the Law of Contracts

Alison Taylor — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 19:24:01 +0000

With today’s publication of the Consultation Paper on Proposals for Unfair Contracts Relief, the British Columbia Law Institute is asking the public to comment on its proposals for reform of the law of contracts.

“Contract law has traditionally developed case by case in the courts,” noted Prof. Joost Blom, Q.C., chair of the BCLI’s Unfair Contracts Relief Project Committee. “This consultation paper gives the public the opportunity to participate in policy development on some important longstanding issues in the law of contracts.”

The consultation paper contains 46 proposals designed to modernize and clarify how the law of contracts deals with unfairness. Its leading proposal is for British Columbia to enact a Contract Fairness Act. This act would consolidate the major concepts that have evolved in contract law to guard against unfairness.

The consultation paper proposes clarifying the tests for unconscionability, duress, and undue influence and integrating how those concepts operate at the level of procedure and remedy. It proposes establishing an implied duty of good faith in the performance of contracts. And it proposes reforms aimed at modernizing the scope of and remedies available for misrepresentation.