BILL NUMBER: S8390

SPONSOR: COMRIE
 
TITLE OF BILL:  An act to amend the general business law, in relation
to methods for cancelling contracts

 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:

The purpose of this bill is to clarify basic precepts in law concerning
contract formation.

 
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:

This bill would give consumers and employees the right to reform
contracts which are not written in plain language or which are not whol-
ly encompassed within a single document. The right to reform is intended
to give effect to the reasonable meaning of the contract, as well as the
reasonable expectations of the parties to the contract.

 
EFFECTS OF PRESENT LAW WHICH THIS BILL WOULD ALTER:
              

This bill would provide clarification concerning the law of contract
formation.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

This bill was adapted from the Model State Consumer & Employee Justice
Enforcement Act, as originally drafted by the National Consumer Law
Center. The bill requires that merchants and employers provide clear
notice of all material contractual terms in plain language that the
consumer or employee can reasonably understand. The bill also allows for
a right of contract reformation, if contractual terms are not contained
within a single document, i.e. without incorporating by reference other
non-contiguous documents.

This bill does not dispense with well-settled rules of contract forma-
tion. Instead, it incorporates them in a way as to give further effect
to the assent which must be manifest in order to hold a consumer or
employee to the terms of the contract.

 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

None.

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:

None.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
On the one hundred and eightieth day after it shall become law.