§ 34-36.1-1.10 - Unconscionable agreement or term of contract. - Rhode Island Statutes

SECTION 34-36.1-1.10

   § 34-36.1-1.10  Unconscionable agreement orterm of contract. – (a) The court, upon finding as a matter of law that a contract or contractclause was unconscionable at the time the contract was made, may refuse toenforce the contract, enforce the remainder of the contract without theunconscionable clause, or limit the application of any unconscionable clause inorder to avoid an unconscionable result.

   (b) Whenever it is claimed, or appears to the court, that acontract or any contract clause is or may be unconscionable, the parties, inorder to aid the court in making the determination, shall be afforded areasonable opportunity to present evidence as to:

   (1) The commercial setting of the negotiations;

   (2) Whether a party has knowingly taken advantage of theinability of the other party reasonably to protect his or her interests byreason of physical or mental infirmity, illiteracy, or inability to understandthe language of the agreement or similar factors;

   (3) The effect and purpose of the contract or clause; and

   (4) If a sale, any gross disparity, at the time ofcontracting, between the amount charged for the real estate and the value ofthe real estate measured by the price at which similar real estate was readilyobtainable in similar transactions, but a disparity between the contract priceand the value of the real estate measured by the price at which similar realestate was readily obtainable in similar transactions does not, of itself,render the contract unconscionable.