Court Opinion

ID: 9701944
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-25 22:46:17.013262+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:21:31.126140
License: Public Domain

CAVANAUGH, J.,
concurring:
¶ 1 I concur in the result reached by the majority. I write to express my divergence in two respects: First, to the extent that the majority opinion may be read to rely upon the fact that appellant is a business enterprise and an experienced shipper in reaching the conclusion that the contract limitation of damages is enforceable, I disagree. I believe that the limitation is applicable to any shipper who seeks to place a value in excess of $100 on the goods shipped and to make the enforceability in any way dependant on a business to businéss transaction, or the sophistication of the shipper in commercial matters is to unnecessarily introduce a variable which is unrelated to the reasonable burden which is placed upon any user of the parcel service. Secondly, I also disagree with the conclusion that the instant transaction involves in any aspect a contract of adhesion. In my view, the exclusion of liability for special, incidental or consequential damages, while it may be nonnegotiable in that it is included on a take it or leave it basis, is simply a reasonable disclaimer of liability for forms of damages which no reasonable user of a parcel service should expect in return for the shipping fee charged. Because of the infinite variety of consequential damages which might be claimed by reason of undelivered or late delivered parcels, it is commercially prudent to allow a carrier of goods to disclaim responsibility for consequential damages without reference to the doctrine of contracts of adhesion.