Unreasonableness under Art. 48(1) CISG

Examples from case law where courts have accepted or dismissed unreasonable delay, unreasonable inconvenience or uncertainty of reimbursement under Art. 48(1) CISG. 

 
  • Cure was held to be unreasonable under Art. 48(1) CISG
 
Czech Republic
Hungarian injection moulding tools case
Bundesgerichtshof (German Supreme Court)
Germany, 24 September 2014 – VIII ZR 394/12, CISG-online 2545

No specification of what kind of unreasonableness under Art. 48(1) CISG was addressed, but the court relied on the following grounds:

  • fruitless attempts of the seller to cure the non-conformities
  • the time pressure under which the buyer found himself towards his own customers
  • the mere announcement of the seller to create a plan of action instead of immediately repairing the goods
 
Czech Republic
Impellers case
Landgericht Stade (District Court Stade)
Germany, 15 May 2014 – 8 O 70/13, CISG-online 2988

No specification of what kind of unreasonableness under Art. 48(1) CISG was adressed, but the following reasons were cited for the conclusion:

  • reasonably lost trust of the buyer in the seller's ability and willingness to deliver conforming goods within a reasonable period of time
  • gravity of the non-conformities
  • the time pressure under which the buyer was towards his own customers
 
 
Czech Republic
Automated pasta production lines case
Федерального арбитражного суда Северо-Кавказского округа (Federal Arbitrazh Court of North Caucasus Area, Krasnodor)
Russian Federation, 03 October 2011 – A63-4588/2010, CISG-online 2518

Unreasonable delay. The seller has not begun with the repair within a reasonable period of time

 
Czech Republic
Designer clothes case
Oberlandesgericht Köln (Court of Appeal Cologne)
Germany, 14 October 2002 – 16 U 77/01, CISG-online 709

No specification of what kind of unreasonableness under Art. 48(1) CISG was addressed, but the court relied on the following grounds:

  • the gravity of the non-conformities lead to the buyer reasonabily having lost his trust in the seller's ability to cure
  • the time pressure under which the buyer found himself towards his own customers, since the goods were articles of highly priced summer fashion
  • the mere announcement of the seller to "try" to remedy the defects
 
Czech Republic
Tetracycline HCL case
Amtsgericht München (Local Court Munich)
Germany, 23 June 1995 – 271 C 18968/94, CISG-online 368

Unreasonable delay. The court relied on the following grounds:

  • delay in the transport back to the seller lead to an unreasonable delay if the goods would have still been repaired by the seller in Italy
  • the damages claims the buyer faced from his own customers
 
  • Cure was or would have been reasonable under Art. 48(1) CISG
 
Czech Republic
Acrylic blankets case
Oberlandesgericht Koblenz (Court of Appeal Koblenz)
Germany, 31 January 1997 – 2 U 31/96, CISG-online 256

A repair by the seller would have been reasonable under Art. 48(1)