Legal Question in Consumer Law in California
self storage lease agreements
Is it lawful for a self storage lessor to add a '''Release'' paragraph in the lease agreement releasing itself of all liabilities for personal injury or damages from any cause whatsoever, including the lessor's own active acts or omissions and /or active negligence, then also include a paragraph demanding indemnification for any claim brought arising from all liabilities released in the ''Release'' paragraph?
These provisions do not seem lawful or enforceable. How can a lessor throw in boilerplate language releasing itself of all liabilities from any cause whatsoever, and expect to enforce that provision against a lessee/consumer who is just trying to rent space to store some personal belongings?
What laws, cases, codes, do such unconscionable provisions violate in CA, and what should a lessee do if a lessor is trying to use those provisions to protect itself from liability for damages caused by dangerous conditons on the storage facility property? Thank you.
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: self storage lease agreements
This language is standard in self storage contracts. You can shop around, but they will all have it. You could try to argue that it is unenforceable, but that would require you sustaining a loss and then hiring an attorney to fight it.
Re: self storage lease agreements
It's not confined to the self storage industry. Lots of businesses demand take-it-or-leave-it "contracts of adhesion," and anybody who refused to sign all such contracts would be seriously inconvenienced in conducting his or her affairs. Some of these contracts even force people into "arbitration."
Unfortunately, we live in an era where many judges favor the rights of businesses over those of individuals, just look at the current membership and opinions of the U.S. and California Supreme Courts. The best that can be said is that many unconscionable or adhesive contracts that purport to disclaim liability for personal injuries caused by negligence are not upheld.
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