Company pulls AI-powered talking teddy bear toy for giving sex advice

We all know that we can’t believe everything we read.

And yet, I spend a lot of my time repeating that advice to people who insist that newspaper articles must be true, and that if something is in a contract that both sides signed, it must be enforceable.

What’s more, the more “reputable” the other side are, the more my clients are likely to believe that what they say must be correct.

Why, after all, would an organisation that has deep pockets and access to all kinds of legal advice put something in a contract that was fundamentally wrong!

Erm, I’m assuming that you’re looking for me to say something more sophisticated than because they think they can get away with it.

Nevertheless, a well known airline recently got slapped down by a Court, not just for putting something in a contract that could not be enforced, but for then trying to have claims against them struck out because it breached the clause in question.

The case involved flight delays, and travellers statutory right to claim compensation if take off was more than a certain time after it’s scheduled slot.  The airline’s contracts said that passengers had to apply for compensation directly and couldn’t do so through third parties.

No doubt this was aimed to try and reduce the number of people who would make claims, because so many would decide they didn’t have the time, legal knowledge, resources etc to process the application.

However, even if I didn’t know that there was already a legal precedent that said that this wasn’t correct, I would easily be able to argue that it cannot be enforceable, because it’s obviously discriminatory.  What if the passenger was a child, or elderly or disabled or didn’t speak good enough English – are we saying that none of them could get help to put in their claim.  Are we saying that suppliers of goods and services now have the right to say that if you want to sue them, you can’t use solicitors or barristers, but they can!  Ridiculous.

That does not, of course, mean that you can get away with signing a contract without reading it, or assuming that whatever is in it can be challenged, but it does mean that you shouldn’t take it at face value, especially if common sense says it’s wrong!

Although I’m not sure I’d recommend asking AI for the answers – look where that got the teddy bear which, incidentally, is a true story – but that’s for another time!

Kleyman & Co Solicitors.  The full service law firm.  Better advice than from an AI bear – but possibly only on legal matters.