Alec Lobb (Garages) Ltd v Total Oil (Great Britain) Ltd
Encyclopedia
Alec Lobb Garages Ltd v Total Oil (GB) Ltd [1984] EWCA Civ 2 is an English contract law
English contract law
English contract law is a body of law regulating contracts in England and Wales. With its roots in the lex mercatoria and the activism of the judiciary during the industrial revolution, it shares a heritage with countries across the Commonwealth , and the United States...

 case relating to undue influence
Undue influence
Undue influence is an equitable doctrine that involves one person taking advantage of a position of power over another person. It is where free will to bargain is not possible.-Undue influence in contract law:...

.

Facts

Mr Lobb was the managing director of a small petrol station in South Street, Brain-tree, Essex
Essex
Essex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...

. It had to buy petrol only from Total Oil. In 1969 he was in financial difficulty. Contrary to his solicitor’s advice, he entered into a lease and lease back arrangement with a new tie agreement with Total Oil. This proved costly. Eventually he paid off debts and ten years after sought the agreement to be set aside as being a restraint of trade and unconscionable.

Mr Peter Millett QC held that the agreement could not be set aside, and Mr Lobb appealed.

Judgment

Dillon LJ held it was not a restraint of trade or an unconscionable bargain and even if it had been, it would have been barred by laches anyway.

See also

  • English contract law
    English contract law
    English contract law is a body of law regulating contracts in England and Wales. With its roots in the lex mercatoria and the activism of the judiciary during the industrial revolution, it shares a heritage with countries across the Commonwealth , and the United States...

  • Iniquitous pressure in English law
    Iniquitous pressure in English law
    Unconscionability in English law is a field of contract law and the law of trusts, which precludes the enforcement of consent based obligations. "Inequality of bargaining power" is another term used to express essentially the same idea for the same area of law, which can in turn be further broken...

  • Lloyds Bank Ltd v Bundy
    Lloyds Bank Ltd v Bundy
    Lloyds Bank Ltd v Bundy [1974] is a landmark case in English contract law, on undue influence. It is remarkable for the judgment of Lord Denning MR who advanced that English law should adopt the approach developing in some American jurisdictions that all impairments of autonomy could be collected...

    [1975] QB 326
  • Williams v. Walker-Thomas Furniture Co.
    Williams v. Walker-Thomas Furniture Co.
    Williams v. Walker-Thomas Furniture Co., 350 F.2d 445 , was a court opinion, written by Judge J. Skelly Wright, that had a definitive discussion of unconscionability as a defense to enforcement of contracts in American contract law. As a staple of first-year law school contract law courses, it has...

    350 F.2d 445 (C.A. D.C. 1965)

  • Earl of Chesterfield v Janssen (1751) 2 Ves Sen 125, equity intervenes in unconscionable bargains
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