Teismų praktika

  • Bylos aprašymas
    • Nacionalinis numeris: Supreme Court, Judgement e3K-3-97-916/2022
    • Valstybė narė: Lietuva
    • Bendrinis pavadinimas:N/A
    • Sprendimo rūšis: Aukščiausiojo Teismo sprendimas
    • Sprendimo data: 03/02/2022
    • Teismas: Supreme Court
    • Tema:
    • Ieškovas:
    • Atsakovas:
    • Raktažodžiai: information requirements, informed decision, B2C, unfair terms
  • Direktyvos straipsniai
    Unfair Contract Terms Directive, Article 3, 2. Unfair Contract Terms Directive, Article 3, 2. Unfair Contract Terms Directive, Article 3, 2. Unfair Contract Terms Directive, Article 4, 2.
  • Įžanginė pastaba

    The terms of a contract are deemed to be unfair if the consumer has not been provided with all the necessary information related to the risk of entering into the agreement when purchasing a complicated financial product.

  • Faktai

    The plaintiff entered into a term deposit agreement “Plus 70” worth EUR 30,000 with the defendant credit union “Taupkasė”, by which the plaintiff made a term deposit and at the same time acquired additional shares (contributions) in the credit union. The deposit accounted for 30% of the total amount (EUR 9,000), and the additional shares acquired accounted for 70% of the total amount (EUR 21,000). The plaintiff signed such a contract because the defendant offered the best interest for such a financial transaction. Following the defendant's bankruptcy, the plaintiff learned that only a deposit in the amount of EUR 9,000 was insured by the defendant, but not the purchased shares (contributions) in the amount of EUR 21,000. The plaintiff brought an action before the court for annulment of the provisions of the General Terms and Conditions of the Plus 70 Term Deposit Agreement, which stated that a share contribution paid by a member of the union, as well as acquisition of additional shares and paid share contributions are not the object of insurance. The plaintiff stated that he did not understand the difference between the words 'deposit' and 'shares (contributions)', since the entire text of the contract was misleading, with the same clauses in the contract referring to deposits and shares, thus misleading the applicant whose goal was to receive interest on the deposit rather than acquiring the rights and obligations of a member of a credit union. The Court of First Instance upheld the action. The appellate court overruled the decision and dismissed the action.

  • Teisės klausimas

    Would it be reasonable to consider a contract term to be unfair if the consumer has not been provided with all the information related to the risk of entering into the agreement when purchasing a complicated financial product?

  • Sprendimas

    The Supreme Court stated that the plaintiff had entered into an agreement for the acquisition of an unusual financial product: a term deposit, together with an acquisition of additional shares (contributions) in the union. The essence of such a complicated financial product presupposes the defendant is under the obligation , as an entrepreneur, to properly and clearly disclose the specificity of such a financial product to the customer, emphasizing not only the potential financial return in the form of interest (transaction benefits) but also the customer's potential risk, due to the fact that the financial transaction is broken down into different components – deposit and acquisition of the additional shares (contributions). The Supreme Court explained that the consumer should have been able not only to understand the rights and obligations he takes on under the contract, but also to assess the potentially significant economic consequences of the insurance of the amount paid as it is subject to additional conditions - that the shares purchased by the consumer are not the object of insurance. The Court noted that the meaning of the terms of the contract had not been clearly and comprehensibly disclosed. The lack of transparency in the terms of the contract was due to the fact that firstly, the terms were not worded in a clear and comprehensible manner, meaning that the average consumer could misunderstand the meaning of the terms, and secondly, the consumer was not provided with all the information that affected the scope of his obligations and could therefore have led him to decide to conclude the contract.

    URL: https://liteko.teismai.lt/viesasprendimupaieska/tekstas.aspx?id=626e46d0-aa4c-48e8-a34b-220d2f831686

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  • Rezultatas

    The Supreme Court overruled the decision of the appellate instance and upheld the decision of the First Instance Court.