EXCLUSION CLAUSE UNREASONABLE: NO POWER OF SEVERANCE

Regus (UK) Ltd v Epcot Solutions Ltd [2007] EWHC 938 (Comm); [2007] All ER (D) 93 (May)

In Regus (UK) Ltd v Epcot Solutions Ltd [2007] EWHC 938 (Comm); [2007] All ER (D) 93 (May) Judge Mackie QC, sitting as a High Court judge, held that the claimant was in breach of contract in failing to supply adequate air conditioning and that the exclusion clause upon which it relied in order to deny liability did not satisfy the reasonableness test in s3 of the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977. The exclusion clause was held to be too broad to be reasonable and, given that the court has no power to sever an unreasonable clause, the clause as a whole was held to be of ‘no effect’ with the consequence that the claimant was unable to place any reliance on it in order to limit its liability.