Current through 11/5/2024 election
Section 5-10-903 - Unconscionability(1) With respect to a rental purchase transaction, if the court as a matter of law finds the transaction, the agreement, or any clause of the agreement to have been unconscionable at the time it was made, the court may refuse to enforce the agreement or it may enforce the remainder of the agreement without the unconscionable clause, or it may so limit the application of any unconscionable clause as to avoid any unconscionable result.(2) If it is claimed or appears to the court that the transaction, the agreement, or any clause thereof may be unconscionable, the parties shall be afforded a reasonable opportunity to present evidence as to its setting, purpose, and effect to aid the court in making any such determination related to unconscionability.(3) If, in an action in which unconscionability is claimed, the court finds unconscionability pursuant to this section, the court may award the costs of the action and a reasonable attorney fee to the lessee. If the court does not find unconscionability and does find that the lessee claiming unconscionability brought or maintained an action he knew to be groundless, the court may award the costs of the action and a reasonable attorney fee to the party against whom the claim was made. In determining such attorney fee, the amount of recovery claimed on behalf of the lessee shall not be controlling.(4) The remedies of this section are in addition to remedies otherwise available for the same conduct authorized under law other than in this article, but double recovery of actual damages may not be had.(5) For the purpose of this section, a charge or practice expressly permitted by this article is not in itself unconscionable.L. 90: Entire article added, p. 377, § 1, effective 1/1/1991.