Date: April 16, 2001

To: Uniform Consumer Leases Act Drafting Committee and Observers

From: Ralph J. Rohner, Reporter

Re: May 2001: meeting in Boston

Enclosed is the revised draft of the Uniform Consumer Leases Act, reflecting changes through our February meeting in New Orleans.

While the statutory text is as clean as I can make it, I did not have time to review the draft Comments in as much detail as I had hoped. Some pieces of the Comments need to be moved around in light of some reorganization of the statutory sections. Other pieces of the Commentary just need refinement or amplification. I welcome your thoughts on the Comments at any time before our Boston meeting.

Here are the major issues:

1. Do we move the definitions of "consummation," "expiration," and "termination" into a separate section, or keep them in the definitions section?

2. Renumbered Section 310 on Warranty Disclaimers: Three options are presented, including a new Option C which borrows ideas from the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act, with the objective of preventing the dealer/lessor from disclaiming implied warranties in at least some cases.

3. Early Termination Liability (Section 405). An option is suggested for vehicle leases that would create a safe harbor for the gross early termination liability, i.e., before deduction of the realized value of the vehicle. See the enclosed letter of March 5, 2001 from Randall Brown of the Association of Consumer Vehicle Lessors.

4. Civil Liability (Article 5). We still have the mix of actual and statutory damages, class actions, and administrative enforcement. I sense that the Committee is not entirely comfortable with the package.

5. I also have a sense we are not altogether clear on issues of assignee liability, both under Sec. 305 and newly reinstated Sec. 505.

6. Coordination with other UCC drafting groups: can we expect resolution on various issues we have been tracking in those other projects?

See you in a few weeks.

Sincerely,

Ralph J. Rohner

Professor of law

Reporter