Claim of defect directly against a workshop instead of against the seller
Supreme Court judgment 10 April 2018, HR-2018-648-A (case no. 2017/1628), civil case, appeal against judgment
Rutebileiernes Standardiseringsaksjeselskap, Norges Bilbransjeforbund (intervener) (Counsel Fredrik Edvardsen) v. Kjell Asmund Akerholt Norges Automobil-Forbund (intervener) (Counsel Jens Christian Riege)
Justices: Webster, Arntzen, Bergh, Falch, Indreberg
A car had been wrecked due to an error during repair carried out for a previous owner. The Supreme Court concluded, like the court of appeal, the buyer could file a direct claim against the workshop that had repaired the car, see the Consumer Purchases Act section 35 subsection 4, and that such a right could be derived from background rules of law. It was not considered whether this implied an analogous application of the Sale of Goods Act section 84 subsection 2, or if background rules of law supplemented section 84 with a non-statutory right to file a direct claim. It was held that the issue seemed to have been missed by the legislature and that policy considerations suggested such a solution. The situation was also similar to other cases where the law allowed direct claims.