Question

1. Melissa purchased a compact satellite dish as part of a contract to obtain satellite television service. Melissa owns a small bar and plans to use the dish and cable service in her bar. The contract provided that she pay $200 for the dish, after which she would receive 12 months of television service through the satellite dish at no charge. After 12 months, in order to receive continued service, she would have to pay the company’s regular monthly charge of $21, or her dish would be disabled. The dish is specially manufactured such that it can receive only the signals provided by the company that provided her with the dish. The company installed the dish in Melissa’s bar as provided in the contract. For the first couple of months, Melissa was happy with the service. It was less expensive than regular cable television and the quality of the picture was superior. In the fourth month of the contract, Melissa began having problems. First, the dish became slightly warped. Second, the signals received by the dish began to fail frequently, at least once every week when bar patrons wanted to watch television. Melissa assumes the signal fails at other times when patrons are not watching. The warping of the dish appears to have affected the quality of the picture. Melissa had a friend hold the dish and push it into its original shape while Melissa watched the television, and the picture improved as long as the friend held the dish. The company refuses to address Melissa’s complaints. Discuss whether the Uniform Commercial Code or common law would apply in resolving each of Melissa’s problems. Also, discuss whether Melissa would be considered a merchant under the UCC.

Answer 1

Because this contract is predominantly a sale of goods, Article 2 of the UCC would apply to all aspects of the contract, including the service portion. For purposes of this contract, the consulting firm would be considered a nonmerchant.

Melissa would be considered a merchant under the UCC for providing service of television in her bar because the patrons are paying money to a bar and enjoying the service which provided by the bar. so here patrons are customers and melissa are seller.