How to Use the New Restatement of Consumer Contracts: A Guide for Judges
Georgetown University Law Center Research Paper Forthcoming
(2024). Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works. 2643.
22 Pages Posted: 12 Dec 2024 Last revised: 16 Dec 2024
Date Written: December 10, 2024
Abstract
In the absence of major legislation or regulatory action, U.S. consumers will continue to look to courts and the common law for protection when businesses engage in unfair and deceptive contracting practices. In May 2022, the American Law Association approved the Restatement of the Law, Consumer Contracts. This new Restatement provides a valuable resource for courts tasked with deciding the legal effects of standard terms that businesses draft and consumers do not read. This essay identifies six pieces of the new Restatement we believe courts should pay special attention to and discusses the importance of each. It also charts several ways courts might go beyond the new Restatement to protect consumers against abusive contracting practices. Unless and until legislators and regulators step in, U.S. courts should continue to reshape the common law to address risks that new technologies of contracting create.
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