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

See all articles by Ian Ayres

Ian Ayres

Yale University - Yale Law School; Yale University - Yale School of Management

Gregory Klass

Georgetown University Law Center

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.

Suggested Citation

Ayres, Ian and Klass, Gregory, How to Use the New Restatement of Consumer Contracts: A Guide for Judges (December 10, 2024). Georgetown University Law Center Research Paper Forthcoming, (2024). Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works. 2643., Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=5053545 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.5053545

Ian Ayres (Contact Author)

Yale University - Yale Law School ( email )

P.O. Box 208215
New Haven, CT 06520-8215
United States
203-432-7101 (Phone)
203-432-2592 (Fax)

Yale University - Yale School of Management

135 Prospect Street
P.O. Box 208200
New Haven, CT 06520-8200
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Gregory Klass

Georgetown University Law Center ( email )

600 New Jersey Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20001
United States

HOME PAGE: http://www.law.georgetown.edu/faculty/klass-gregory.cfm

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