Section 34.08.790. Unconscionable agreement or term of contract.

   (a) Upon finding as a matter of law that a contract or contract clause was unconscionable at the time the contract was made, a court may refuse to enforce the contract, may enforce the remainder of the contract without the unconscionable clause, or may limit the application of the unconscionable clause in order to avoid an unconscionable result.
   (b) Whenever it is claimed or appears to the court that a contract or a contract clause is or may be unconscionable, the parties, in order to aid the court in making the determination, must be afforded a reasonable opportunity to present evidence as to (1) the commercial setting of the negotiations; (2) whether a party has knowingly taken advantage of the inability of another party reasonably to protect personal interests by reason of physical or mental infirmity, illiteracy, inability to understand the language of the agreement, or similar factors; (3) the effect and purpose of the contract or clause; and (4) any gross disparity, if a sale, at the time of contracting, between the amount charged for the property and the value of the property measured by the price at which similar property was readily obtainable in similar transactions.  A disparity between the contract price and the value of the property measured by the price at which similar property was readily obtainable in similar transactions does not, of itself, render the contract unconscionable.

Notes

History

(Sec. 1 ch 95 SLA 1985)