Read the Excerpt of the Case Hydraulics Int’l Inc. v. Amalga Composites, Inc.
See Page 214 of the Assigned Textbook (Helewitz 10th Edition)
This case involves a dispute arising out of an alleged defective product.
However, the Court’s decision involved a procedural matter as set forth in
the parties’ documents. The documents were intended to form a contract.
However, as in many cases, that is where the problem started.
1. Was this case heard in federal or state court? This case was heard in
Federal court.
2. What state was the Plaintiff from and what state was the Defendant from?
The Plaintiff is from Utah and the Defendant is from Wisconsin.
3. What type of industry uses the goods (spools) at issue in this case? The oil
and gas industry uses the goods, spools.
4. The parties traded documents. The documents were titled either a
purchase order or acknowledgement order. The Plaintiff’s document included
a specific clause which was different from the clause included in Defendant’s
document; which became the focus of the dispute. Describe the clause.
The clause included specified terms and conditions under which a product
needs to be delivered and accepted. The Defendant’s acknowledgement
order had a different clause that included terms and conditions about the
warranty, liability, and dispute resolution. The specific clauses differed
particularly in how they addressed issues such as warranty coverage and
liability limitations, which became the focus of the dispute.
5. How does the Court in Subtitle “A” of its decision describe the transaction
involving
competing documents that were sent by each party intended for use as the
basis for a
contact?
The Court described the transaction as a "battle of the forms." Each party
sent documents intending to form the basis of a contract, but each document
contained differing terms. This created a conflict about which terms should
govern the contract.
6. In fact, the parties combined documents did not create a contract under
UCC 2-207(1). Why not?