(a)  The court, upon finding as a matter of law that a contract or contract clause was unconscionable at the time the contract was made, may refuse to enforce the contract, enforce the remainder of the contract without the unconscionable clause, or limit the application of any unconscionable clause in order to avoid an unconscionable result.

contract signature

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Terms Used In Rhode Island General Laws 34-36.1-1.10

  • Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
  • Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
  • real estate: may be construed to include lands, tenements, and hereditaments and rights thereto and interests therein. See Rhode Island General Laws 43-3-10
  • Remainder: An interest in property that takes effect in the future at a specified time or after the occurrence of some event, such as the death of a life tenant.

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

(1)  The commercial setting of the negotiations;

(2)  Whether a party has knowingly taken advantage of the inability of the other party reasonably to protect his or her interests by reason of physical or mental infirmity, illiteracy, or inability to understand the 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 of contracting, between the amount charged for the real estate and the value of the real estate measured by the price at which similar real estate was readily obtainable in similar transactions, but a disparity between the contract price and the value of the real estate measured by the price at which similar real estate was readily obtainable in similar transactions does not, of itself, render the contract unconscionable.

History of Section.
P.L. 1982, ch. 329, § 2.