Some drinks just make you want to scream “UCC.” The Uniform Commercial Code that is. The Cheesecake Factory has announced it will yield to demands from Massachusetts lawyer Ross Mitchell who objected under the Massachusetts Consumer Protection Act to the failure to post the prices of its drinks. He is supported by Texas Wesleyan law professor Franklin Snyder who has invoked the UCC as required reading for anyone bar hopping.
Mitchell has announced that he intends to pressure other chains to post their prices. He was outraged recently when a friend was charged $11 for a margarita at a Cheesecake Factory. He said the server did not know the specific prices and could only give him a range.
Franklin Snyder wrote a New York Times column about how a person ordered a lunch special—pasta with white truffles only to be charged $275. Snyder pointed out that “[t]he code provides that where the buyer and seller have agreed to a contract but have not agreed on the price, the price is not what the seller subsequently demands. It’s a reasonable price for the goods at issue. Thus a customer has no obligation to pay for anything more than the reasonable price of a pasta meal at a trendy restaurant.”
That could be handy. But, speaking as a torts professor, I am little curious not to be hearing a chorus of calls for contracts reform and runaway restaurant litigation. Where are all those people insisting on the need for personal responsibility and citing how litigation is driving up the costs of cocktails. Those contracts professors have always been a litigious, margarita-chugging, menu-challenging group of stiffs. We may have our occasional slip and fall, but it is a darn sight better than their check and bounce.
munching cheesecakes is my hobby, i really love eating it.*
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Agganistan sb. Afghanistan. Sorry Kairho.
Kairho
>Who buys something without knowing the price?
Uh, Congress?
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They have a price but it’s generally low-balled and they know it but I take your point. Iraq/Agganistan/Pakistan & MIC, yea, I accept your point but It’s a fixed game. 🙂
Rich: “Moreover, truffles or not, a”reasonable person” would not expect to drop $250 for entree at a chain casual restaurant.”
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Yea, expectations play into it. When I read the name of the restaurant I was really surprised- nothing at a Cheesecake factory should cost that much unless it’s served on the naked body of this years Bunny Of The Year. When I order a steak and eggs at the local pancake house I don’t look at the menu but I don’t expect a 10 oz Kobe’ beef fillet and a $150 price tag either. The coffee better not be that $100. a cup passed-through-a-living-creature stuff either. 🙂
Idealist707
FYI a pound of truffles costs thousads of dollars (up to $6K-$10K depending on availability). At $275 per serving the truffles were likely shaved very thinly over the pasta, with maybe some truffle infused oil drizzled over as well
Stores seem to have a lot more unmarked/unpriced merchandise than in the past. I ran into this at the neighborhood a hardware store recently and its a constant problem at the Whole Foods next door.This sounds like the same thing. Moreover, truffles or not, a”reasonable person” would not expect to drop $250 for entree at a chain casual restaurant.
>Who buys something without knowing the price?
Uh, Congress?
mahtso,
You are thinking of when the contract must be in writing. If under $500, the statute of frauds would not apply.
Adam
TalkinDog
I Lived in New Bern for 3 years when I was in the Marine Corps. Loved Captain Ratty’s.
The lawyers can correct me if I am wrong, but doesn’t the UCC apply only to sales of $500 or more?