NORTH CAROLINA LAW REVIEW Volume 69 | Number 3 Article 3 3-1-1991 Restoring Peace in the Battle of the orF ms: A Framework for Making Uniform Commercial Code Section 2-207 Work Caroline N. Brown Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarship.law.unc.edu/nclr Part of the Law Commons Recommended Citation Caroline N. Brown, Restoring Peace in the Battle of the Forms: A Framework for Making Uniform Commercial Code Section 2-207 Work, 69 N.C. L. Rev. 893 (1991). Available at: http://scholarship.law.unc.edu/nclr/vol69/iss3/3 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by Carolina Law Scholarship Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in North Carolina Law Review by an authorized administrator of Carolina Law Scholarship Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. RESTORING PEACE IN THE BATTLE OF THE FORMS: A FRAMEWORK FOR MAKING UNIFORM COMMERCIAL CODE SECTION 2-207 WORK CAROLINE N. BROWN* The promulgation of Uniform Commercial Code section 2-207 led to a host of difficulties in interpretationand application. In this Article, ProfessorBrown argues that many of the problems associatedwith sec- tion 2-207 are avoided when one interpretsthe statute in light of its pre- Code foundation. Relying upon the commercial context and analogy to section 2-206(1)(b), she demonstrates that section 2-207 represents the latitude in acceptance implicitly extended by the offeror in the special context ofform contracts. She concludes that most additionalterms in the offeree's form automatically become part of the contract, limiting the "materialalteration" exclusion of subsection (2)(b) to terms which would be substantially surprising to the offeror. I. INTRODUCTION Section 2-2071 of the Uniform Commercial Code has bedeviled the legal community ever since its promulgation.2 Indeed, interpretations and applica- * Professor of Law, University of North Carolina. B.A., 1969, University of California, Berkeley; M.A., 1972, University of Rochester; J.D., 1976, University of Miami. Research for the Article was supported in part by the North Carolina Law Center. The author has published previ- ous articles under the name of "Caroline N. Bruckel." 1. U.C.C. § 2-207 provides: (1) A definite and seasonable expression of acceptance or a written confirmation which is sent within a reasonable time operates as an acceptance even though it states terms additional to or different from those offered or agreed upon, unless acceptance is expressly made conditional on assent to the additional or different terms. (2) The additional terms are to be construed as proposals for addition to the contract. Between merchants such terms become part of the contract unless: (a) the offer expressly limits acceptance to the terms of the offer; (b) they materially alter it; or (c) notification of objection to them has already been given or is given within a reasonable time after notice of them is received. (3) Conduct by both parties which recognizes the existence of a contract is sufficient to establish a contract for sale although the writings of the parties do not otherwise estab- lish a contract. In such case the terms of the particular contract consist of those terms on which the writings of the parties agree, together with any supplementary terms incoipo- rated under any other provisions of this Act. U.C.C. § 2-207 (1990). 2. See, e.g., Roto-Lith, Ltd. v. F.P. Bartlett & Co., 297 F.2d 497, 500 (1st Cir. 1962) ("not too happily drafted"); Reaction Molding Tech., Inc. v. General Elec. Co., 585 F. Supp. 1097, 1104 (E.D. Pa. 1984) ("a defiant, lurking demon patiently waiting to condemn its interpreters to the depths of despair"), modified, 588 F. Supp. 1280 (E.D. Pa. 1984); Southwest Eng'g Co. v. Martin Tractor Co., 205 Kan. 684, 694, 473 P.2d 18, 25 (1970) ("murky bit of prose"); R. DUESENIIERG & L. KING, SALES AND BULK TRANSFERS, 3 BENDER'S U.C.C. SERVICE, §§ 3.01-3.08 (1986); Letter from NORTH CAROLINA LAW REVIEW [Vol. 69 tions of this statute vary so widely that the "battle of the forms" may appear a more insoluble problem now than when section 2-207 first was enacted.3 Cases and commentary have succeeded in tapping every possibility for confusion in- herent in the statutory language or invited by the ambiguities of its practical context. 4 Although "battle of the forms" issues often are litigated and have been the subject of numerous articles, this attention has generated more controversy and confusion than clarity. 5 Instead of a sound, practical solution to a commer- cial problem, the section has become an enigma. The purpose of this Article, then, is to explore the appropriate function of section 2-207 in the context of its underlying commercial necessities6 and in Grant Gilmore to Robert Summers, in R. SUMMERS & J. WHITE, COMMERCIAL & CONSUMER LAW 54 (3d ed. 1981) (describing § 2-207 as "a miserable, bungled, patched-up job") [hereinafter Gilmore Letter]; J. WHITE & R. SUMMERS, UNIFORM COMMERCIAL CODE §§ 1-3, at 28-29 (3d ed. 1988); Baird & Weisberg, Rules, Standards,and the Battle of the Forms: A Reassessment of§ 2-207, 68 VA. L. REV. 1217, 1220-21 (1982); Barron & Dunfee, Two Decades of 2-207. Review, Reflection and Revision, 24 CLEV. ST. L. REv. 171, 213 (1975); Duesenberg, Contract Creation: The Continuing Struggle with Additional and Different Terms under Uniform Commerical Code Section 2-207, 34 Bus. LAW. 1477, 1477 (1979); Friedman & Macaulay, ContractLaw and Contract Teaching: Past, Present, and Future, 1967 Wis. L. REv. 804, 818; Hawkland, Major Changes under the Uniform Commercial Code in the Formation and Terms of Sales Contracts, 10 PRAC. LAW., May 1964, at 73, 79-82; Murray, A Proposed Revision of Section 2-207 of the Uniform Commercial Code, 6 J.L. & COM. 337, 337 (1986) [hereinafter Murray, A Proposed Revision]; Murray, The Chaos of the "Battle of the Forms" Solutions, 39 VAND. L. REv. 1307, 1308 (1986) [hereinafter Murray, Chaos of the "Battle of the Forms"]; Murray, The Article 2 Prism: The Underlying Philosophy of Article 2 of the Uniform Commerical Code, 21 WASHBURN L.J. 1, 8 (1981) [hereinafter Murray, The Article 2 Prism]; Murray, Section 2-207 of the Uniform Commercial Code: Another Word About Incipient Unconscionability, 39 U. Prrr. L. Rnv. 597, 599 (1978) [hereinafter Murray, Incipient Unconsclona. bility]; Murray, The Realism of Behaviorism Under the Uniform Commercial Code, 51 OR. L. REV. 269, 270 (1972) [hereinafter Murray, The Realism of Behaviorism]; Murray, Intention Over Terms: An Exploration of U.C C 2-207 and New Section 60, Restatement of Contracts, 37 FORDHAM L. REV. 317, 329 (1969) [hereinafter Murray, Intention Over Terms]; Shanker, Contract by Disagree- mentl? (Reflections of UCC 2-207), 81 CoM. L.L 453, 453 (1976); Taylor, U.CC Section 2-207" An Integration of Legal Abstractions and TransactionalReality, 46 U. CIN. L. REV. 419, 421 (1977); Thatcher, Battle of the Forms: Solution by Revision of Section 2-207, 16 U.C.C. L. 237, 240-41 (1984); Travalio, Clearing the Air After The Battle: Reconciling Fairnessand Efficiency in a Formal Approach to U.CC.Section 2-207, 33 CASE W. RES. 327, 327-28 (1983); Note, Contracts: Sales of Goods. Acceptance of Offer: Additional or Different Terms: Section 2-207, Uniform Commercial Code: Section 84-a, New York PersonalProperty Law (New), 46 CORNELL L. REv. 308, 316 (1961) ("Section 2-207 appears to complicate ... judicial interpretation of the chronology of offer and acceptance. ... [C]ourts ... will need more than a scorecard to distinguish the players."). For a comparable study of the "battle of the forms," see Von Mehren, "The Battle of the Forms". A Comparative View, 38 AM. J. COMP. L. 265 (1990). 3. See Murray, A Proposed Revision, supra note 2, at 344; Murray, Chaosof the "Battle of the Forms," supra note 2, at 1311-30; Thatcher, supra note 2, at 239-40. 4. See Baird & Weisberg, supra note 2, at 1249-50 (terms supplied under § 2-207(3) not suita- ble for some transactions); Barron & Dunfee, supra note 2, at 179; Murray, Chaos of the "Battle of the Forms," supra note 2, at 1323-24, 1349-51. 5. See, eg., Murray, Chaos of the "Battle of the Forms," supra note 2, at 1308 ("this chaos threatens the institution of contract in our society"). 6. An informal information-gathering effort by the author revealed that actual commercial practice involving the use of forms is quite disparate and difficult to generalize about, except for a few fundamental observations. Some forms lack any fine print at all; some have copious amounts. Almost any form from a purchase order to an acknowledgment to an invoice can be used as the original or sole communication. More often, telephone or personal conferences precede the forms; in such cases, actual agreement may be reached, or the conversations may serve merely as a prelimi- nary stage in negotiation before forms are sent. Because of the great disparity in commercial practice, this Article makes no effort to address the function of § 2-207 in all cases. Rather, the Article is designed to set the stage for the statute's 1991] ACCEPTANCE UNDER U.C.C. § 2-207 light of the larger body of law in which it is set. When the statute is understood in its context, both commercially and within its broader framework of common- law contract law and Uniform Commercial Code policy, the most difficult issues posed by section 2-207 can be resolved and the results made both fairly predict- able and predictably fair. To facilitate its proper application, the Article sug- gests a general methodology for applying the statute in most cases.