Spurling v Bradshaw [1956] 1 WLR 461

The defendant used the services of a warehouse to store goods on a regular basis. Each time he delivered goods to the warehouse he was asked to sign an invoice which contained an exclusion clause. This invoice came after the contract had been agreed. On one occasion he stored some barrels of orange juice and again signed the invoice. When he went to pick them up, however, some of the barrels were empty and one contained dirty water. Consequently he refused to pay for the storage. The claimant warehouse owners brought an action for the agreed price of storage relying on the exclusion clause to demonstrate that they were not liable for the damage to the goods. The defendant argued the clause had not been incorporated into the contract as he signed the document after the contract was made.

Held: The clause was incorporated through previous dealings. The defendant would have been aware of the term from the previous contracts and therefore it did form part of the contract. The claimant was entitled to payment and the defendant had no right to claim compensation for the damage to the orange juice.

Back to lecture outline on unfair terms in contract law