This case involved two Spanish parties, which entered into a contract for the sale of technical appliances. According to the contract, the seller would provide the goods with detailed specific instructions for their assemblage. Once delivered, the buyer found that while the goods conformed to contract specifications, the instructions were not specific enough. As a result, the buyer paid for further technicians to complete the job, and only partially paid the seller. The seller then sued the buyer, claiming for the payment of the outstanding price; the buyer counter-claimed for the payment of the sum needed to have the extra technicians complete the job. The Court of First Instance ruled in favour of the seller. The buyer appealed.
The Appellate Court confirmed the findings of the lower court, holding that since the buyer was an expert in the field of assembling appliances of that type and the goods were effectively fit for their purposes and sold with their proper instructions, the buyer should have been able to complete the assemblage. In deciding the issue, the Court referred to CISG which, though not applicable in the case at hand, was held to be an expression of “a universally accepted sense of justice”. In particular, it made reference to Art. 35(2)(b) CISG, according to which the seller's liability is excluded if the circumstances show that it was unreasonable for the buyer to rely on the seller’s skill and judgement .
|