SECTIONS 1791-1791.3

1791.  As used in this chapter: (a) "Consumer goods" means any new product or part thereof that isused, bought, or leased for use primarily for personal, family, orhousehold purposes, except for clothing and consumables. "Consumergoods" shall include new and used assistive devices sold at retail. (b) "Buyer" or "retail buyer" means any individual who buysconsumer goods from a person engaged in the business ofmanufacturing, distributing, or selling consumer goods at retail. Asused in this subdivision, "person" means any individual, partnership,corporation, limited liability company, association, or other legalentity that engages in any of these businesses. (c) "Clothing" means any wearing apparel, worn for any purpose,including under and outer garments, shoes, and accessories composedprimarily of woven material, natural or synthetic yarn, fiber, orleather or similar fabric. (d) "Consumables" means any product that is intended forconsumption by individuals, or use by individuals for purposes ofpersonal care or in the performance of services ordinarily renderedwithin the household, and that usually is consumed or expended in thecourse of consumption or use. (e) "Distributor" means any individual, partnership, corporation,association, or other legal relationship that stands between themanufacturer and the retail seller in purchases, consignments, orcontracts for sale of consumer goods. (f) "Independent repair or service facility" or "independentservice dealer" means any individual, partnership, corporation,association, or other legal entity, not an employee or subsidiary ofa manufacturer or distributor, that engages in the business ofservicing and repairing consumer goods. (g) "Lease" means any contract for the lease or bailment for theuse of consumer goods by an individual, for a term exceeding fourmonths, primarily for personal, family, or household purposes,whether or not it is agreed that the lessee bears the risk of theconsumer goods' depreciation. (h) "Lessee" means an individual who leases consumer goods under alease. (i) "Lessor" means a person who regularly leases consumer goodsunder a lease. (j) "Manufacturer" means any individual, partnership, corporation,association, or other legal relationship that manufactures,assembles, or produces consumer goods. (k) "Place of business" means, for the purposes of any retailseller that sells consumer goods by catalog or mail order, thedistribution point for consumer goods. (l) "Retail seller," "seller," or "retailer" means any individual,partnership, corporation, association, or other legal relationshipthat engages in the business of selling or leasing consumer goods toretail buyers. (m) "Return to the retail seller" means, for the purposes of anyretail seller that sells consumer goods by catalog or mail order, theretail seller's place of business, as defined in subdivision (k). (n) "Sale" means either of the following: (1) The passing of title from the seller to the buyer for a price. (2) A consignment for sale. (o) "Service contract" means a contract in writing to perform,over a fixed period of time or for a specified duration, servicesrelating to the maintenance or repair of a consumer product, exceptthat this term does not include a policy of automobile insurance, asdefined in Section 116 of the Insurance Code. (p) "Assistive device" means any instrument, apparatus, orcontrivance, including any component or part thereof or accessorythereto, that is used or intended to be used, to assist an individualwith a disability in the mitigation or treatment of an injury ordisease or to assist or affect or replace the structure or anyfunction of the body of an individual with a disability, except thatthis term does not include prescriptive lenses and other ophthalmicgoods unless they are sold or dispensed to a blind person, as definedin Section 19153 of the Welfare and Institutions Code and unlessthey are intended to assist the limited vision of the person sodisabled. (q) "Catalog or similar sale" means a sale in which neither theseller nor any employee or agent of the seller nor any person relatedto the seller nor any person with a financial interest in the saleparticipates in the diagnosis of the buyer's condition or in theselection or fitting of the device. (r) "Home appliance" means any refrigerator, freezer, range,microwave oven, washer, dryer, dishwasher, garbage disposal, trashcompactor, or room air-conditioner normally used or sold forpersonal, family, or household purposes. (s) "Home electronic product" means any television, radio, antennarotator, audio or video recorder or playback equipment, videocamera, video game, video monitor, computer equipment, telephone,telecommunications equipment, electronic alarm system, electronicappliance control system, or other kind of electronic product, if itis normally used or sold for personal, family, or household purposes.The term includes any electronic accessory that is normally used orsold with a home electronic product for one of those purposes. Theterm excludes any single product with a wholesale price to the retailseller of less than fifty dollars ($50). (t) "Member of the Armed Forces" means a person on full-timeactive duty in the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, NationalGuard, or Coast Guard. Full-time active duty shall also includeactive military service at a military service school designated bylaw or the Adjutant General of the Military Department concerned. This section shall become operative on January 1, 2008.1791.1.  As used in this chapter: (a) "Implied warranty of merchantability" or "implied warrantythat goods are merchantable" means that the consumer goods meet eachof the following: (1) Pass without objection in the trade under the contractdescription. (2) Are fit for the ordinary purposes for which such goods areused. (3) Are adequately contained, packaged, and labeled. (4) Conform to the promises or affirmations of fact made on thecontainer or label. (b) "Implied warranty of fitness" means (1) that when theretailer, distributor, or manufacturer has reason to know anyparticular purpose for which the consumer goods are required, andfurther, that the buyer is relying on the skill and judgment of theseller to select and furnish suitable goods, then there is an impliedwarranty that the goods shall be fit for such purpose and (2) thatwhen there is a sale of an assistive device sold at retail in thisstate, then there is an implied warranty by the retailer that thedevice is specifically fit for the particular needs of the buyer. (c) The duration of the implied warranty of merchantability andwhere present the implied warranty of fitness shall be coextensive induration with an express warranty which accompanies the consumergoods, provided the duration of the express warranty is reasonable;but in no event shall such implied warranty have a duration of lessthan 60 days nor more than one year following the sale of newconsumer goods to a retail buyer. Where no duration for an expresswarranty is stated with respect to consumer goods, or parts thereof,the duration of the implied warranty shall be the maximum periodprescribed above. (d) Any buyer of consumer goods injured by a breach of the impliedwarranty of merchantability and where applicable by a breach of theimplied warranty of fitness has the remedies provided in Chapter 6(commencing with Section 2601) and Chapter 7 (commencing with Section2701) of Division 2 of the Commercial Code, and, in any actionbrought under such provisions, Section 1794 of this chapter shallapply.1791.2.  (a) "Express warranty" means: (1) A written statement arising out of a sale to the consumer of aconsumer good pursuant to which the manufacturer, distributor, orretailer undertakes to preserve or maintain the utility orperformance of the consumer good or provide compensation if there isa failure in utility or performance; or (2) In the event of any sample or model, that the whole of thegoods conforms to such sample or model. (b) It is not necessary to the creation of an express warrantythat formal words such as "warrant" or "guarantee" be used, but ifsuch words are used then an express warranty is created. Anaffirmation merely of the value of the goods or a statementpurporting to be merely an opinion or commendation of the goods doesnot create a warranty. (c) Statements or representations such as expressions of generalpolicy concerning customer satisfaction which are not subject to anylimitation do not create an express warranty.1791.3.  As used in this chapter, a sale "as is" or "with all faults"means that the manufacturer, distributor, and retailer disclaim allimplied warranties that would otherwise attach to the sale ofconsumer goods under the provisions of this chapter.