McCabes News
Many companies refer to their standard Terms and Conditions when entering into a contract for the supply of goods or services with another party. But what happens when two parties disagree as to whose T&Cs should apply? In this article, we examine the dangers of failing to properly clarify which T&Cs apply in a supply contract, as well as some practical steps businesses can take at the negotiation phase to avoid a “battle of the forms” turning into an all-out war.
When the phrase “contract dispute” is mentioned, one generally imagines a situation where Party A has breached a term of a written agreement with Party B. But what if it is unclear what the terms of that contract actually are? What if, as is often the case in supply contexts, there is no “formal” written agreement, and the parties instead rely on their respective standard Terms & Conditions to frame up the rights and obligations of the parties?
A “battle of the forms” commonly arises in circumstances where, for example, a supplier of goods or services issues a quote on the basis that its standard terms and conditions of supply will apply to the agreement between the parties, while the procuring party issues a purchase order noting that its own standard terms and conditions of purchase will apply. Or, perhaps the procuring party submits an order referring to its T&Cs, followed by the supplier responding with a confirmation note or invoice with a reference to its own T&Cs. As each party will have prepared standard T&Cs that are generally favourable to it, the two sets of T&Cs are likely to be fundamentally inconsistent in a number of ways.
Where different T&Cs are asserted by each party, there are two principal scenarios that may follow:
The latter scenario is an easy trap for businesses to fall into. It may be the case that all the “fundamental” aspects of the arrangement are already agreed (such as the goods or services to be supplied; the price; and the time for payment and delivery), while other less obvious, yet often crucial, terms remain unclarified due to a lack of express agreement. For example: When will title in goods transfer to the purchaser? Who carries the risk in the goods during the delivery phase? How long does the defects warranty last? What happens if delivery is delayed?
In many cases, all will run smoothly and the question of applicable T&Cs may never come to the fore. However, when an issue does arise, the fact that the terms of the contract are unclear may render the issue all the more difficult, time-consuming, and potentially costly to resolve.
Under Australian contract law, the formation of a contract must involve an offer and an acceptance. Unless Party B accepts the exact terms offered to it by Party A, Party B’s response to the offer may in fact merely constitute a counter-offer at law. If the parties proceed with the supply in the absence of any express acceptance of either party’s T&Cs, acceptance may be found by conduct. In that case, the Courts will often find that that the applicable terms are those of the last offer made. Whilst some may seek to use this principle to their advantage by having the last word in negotiations, the answer is generally not that straightforward, for example, where parties’ T&Cs each expressly state it is their T&Cs that apply.