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Charitable GiftsGiving to charities is agreat way to support acause that is importantto you. The UnitedWay and the AIDSFoundation are justtwo examples oforganizations thatneed support throughoutthe year, not justduring the holidayseason. Unfortunately,some organizationsthat promote themselvesas charitiesmay not actually becharities. How canyou tell if a charityis legitimate?Get InvolvedContact the BetterBusiness Bureau fortips on how to guardagainst misrepresentationand fraud.Organize a donationdrive at your school tocollect old clothes andfurniture to donate toa well-known charityin your area.warranty: “In no event shall this company be liable for consequentialdamages.” Souci filled the freezer with $1,500 worth ofmeat. Several days later, the meat spoiled when the freezer brokedown. Under the warranty, the company has to repair or replacethe freezer. However, it is not responsible for the loss of the meat,which would be considered a consequential damage.Consumer ProtectionThe Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act limits the exclusions of impliedwarranties to consumers. Under this law, if a seller makes a written expresswarranty to a consumer, the implied warranties cannot be disclaimedor excluded. This law also applies if the seller gives the buyera service contract. Implied warranties may be limited to the length oftime of the express warranty, unless it is too short to be reasonable. Ifthe length of time is limited, however, the agreement becomes a limitedwarranty rather than a full warranty.Some states have gone further to protect consumers by saying thatimplied warranties cannot be excluded when goods are sold. If TheresaQuigley bought the computer desk in Massachusetts, New Hampshire,Oklahoma, or Rhode Island, for example, she would have receivedadditional protection. Those states do not allow sellers to excludeimplied warranties when goods are sold to consumers.Privity of Contract Not RequiredPeople who contract directly with each other are said to be inprivity of contract . In the past, warranties extended only to the actualbuyer of a product.Example 14. A man purchased a can of salmon from a store.While eating the salmon, the man’s young son was injured bybits of metal that were in the fish. Suit was brought on behalf ofthe son against the store for breach of warranty of merchantability.The case was lost, however, because the son had not purchasedthe salmon. There was no privity of contract between thestore and the son.The boy would have won the case if the incident had occurred today.The UCC has abolished the requirement of privity of contract. Instead, itprovides states with three alternatives. In all of the alternatives, expressand implied warranties extend to people who would reasonably be expectedto use, consume, or be affected by the goods purchased by the buyer.l Alternative A gives sellers’ warranties to any person injured by abreach of warranty who is in the family or household of the buyer.Guests of the buyer are also protected. Sellers cannot exclude thisprovision. Warranties are not extended to corporations.306 Unit 3: Understanding Consumer Law