Case law

  • Case Details
    • National ID: 8 Ob 108/06z
    • Member State: Austria
    • Common Name:8 Ob 108/06z
    • Decision type: Other
    • Decision date: 18/12/2006
    • Court: Supreme Court
    • Subject:
    • Plaintiff: Unknown
    • Defendant: Unknown
    • Keywords: disproportionate remedy, price reductions, replacement, significant inconvenience to the consumer
  • Directive Articles
    Consumer Sales and Guarantees Directive, link
  • Headnote
    (1) Primarily the argument of "disproportionate effort" refers to the relation of the primary remedies (improvement/replacement) among each other, and not between the primary and the secondary remedies. The threshold for an effective argument of "disproportionate effort" against all primary remedies needs stronger reasons and has to be assessed in a different way as the "disproportionate effort" against one of the primary remedies.

    (2) A definite disproportion is at hand, if the effort of improvement is disproportionate in respect to the importance of the defect for the buyer, whereby the additional inconveniences for the buyer arising out of the other remedy (price reduction) have to be considered.
  • Facts
    The plaintiff owns an apartment complex and hired the defendant to deliver and install laminate floors with quality class 33. The defendant delivered and installed laminate floors with quality class 22, which are of lesser quality than the ordered floor boards. Therefore, the plaintiff wanted the defendant to replace the floor boards. Even though the defendant acknowledged the defect and offered the plaintiff a price reduction of 30 % or a warranty for the upcoming 10 years, the plaintiff filed a claim with the court for replacement of the laminate floor boards.

    The court of first instance dismissed the claim. In the opinion of the court, improvement and replacement are possible to demand, but not if these remedies are impossible or constitute a disproportionate effort for the seller in relation to another remedy. According to the court of first instance, the high replacement costs (EUR 28.000) constitute a disproportionate effort for the seller and only price reduction or rescission of the contract are possible.

    The appellate court annulled the decision of the court of first instance and referred the case back to the court of first instance. In the opinion of the appellate court, improvement and replacement should primarily be demanded, unless these remedies are impossible or if they constitute a disproportionate effort for the seller in relation to another remedy. This depends on the value of the defect-free good, the severity of the defect and inconveniences arising of the other remedy. The fact that the costs of replacement exceed the value of the defect-free good cannot automatically lead to the remedies of price reduction and conversion. Other aspects have to be taken into account as well.
  • Legal issue
    The Court acknowledged the findings of the appellate court, especially regarding the lack of jurisprudence to the amended text of article 3 Directive 1999/44 (implemented into Austrian law by § 932 ABGB).

    The term "disproportionate effort" is cited in Austrian law not only in Sec 2, but also in Sec 4 of § 932 ABGB. However, the meaning is different in the two cases. The argument of "disproportionate effort" included in Sec 2 only refers to the relation of the primary remedies (improvement/replacement) among each other. The cited mechanisms of assessment, if an effort is disproportionate, only apply to the applicability of the primary remedies and cannot be consulted to assess the argument of disproportionate effort against all primary remedies in favour of the secondary remedies (price reduction/conversion). Therefore the threshold for an effective argument of "disproportionate effort" against all primary remedies needs stronger reasons and has to be assessed differently.

    The Court affirms a definite disproportion, if the effort of improvement is disproportionate to the importance of the defect for the buyer, whereby the additional inconveniences for the buyer arising out of the other remedy (price reduction) have to be considered.

    The court deems this to be in conformity with Directive 1999/44/EC.
  • Decision
  • Related Cases

    No results available

  • Legal Literature

    No results available

  • Result
    The defendant's request was denied. Even though the recourse was admissible, the Court deemed it to be ineligible.