Fairfield Credit Corp. v. Donnelly
Connecticut Supreme Court
264 A.2d 547 (1969)
John and Mary Donnelly (defendants) bought a television from D.W.M. Advertising (DWM) on an installment contract that DWM immediately assigned to Fairfield Credit Corp. (Fairfield) (plaintiff); fine print purported to bar the Donnellys from raising any DWM-related defense against Fairfield. At the same signing, DWM separately agreed to service the television for a year. The television soon needed repeated repairs, DWM then vanished, and the Donnellys stopped paying on the installment contract. Fairfield sued to collect the balance.
Whether a buyer in a consumer-goods contract must be permitted to raise the same defenses against the seller's assignee that the buyer could have raised against the seller itself, notwithstanding contract language purporting to waive that right.