Also known as: privity requirements · privity
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A direct legal relationship between parties required for certain obligations or rights to attach or run with transferred interests. The relationship may arise from contract or from shared estate in land and determines whether duties survive transfer or whether claims may be asserted against remote parties.
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Global Structures leased a storage yard to Harbor Builders and promised in the lease to maintain structural supports. Global sold the property to Coastal Development without obtaining a release from Harbor. Because Global's obligation rested on privity of contract, Global remains liable to Harbor for any later breach of the maintenance promise.
Pioneer Energy built a new home and sold it to the first owner. Five years later the first owner sold the home to Patricia Patel. When structural defects appeared, Patel sued Pioneer directly. Because Patel lacked privity with Pioneer, the court held that the implied warranty of habitability did not extend to her.
Pablo Perez used a gravel path across neighboring land for seven years. He then sold his parcel to Paige Porter, who continued the identical use for another nine years. Because privity existed between Perez and Porter through the deed, the periods combined to satisfy the prescriptive period.
Pulse Media recorded an agreement granting an online retailer permanent space on an exterior wall for parcel lockers. The retailer held no ownership or lease interest in the property. Because no privity relationship is required to create a servitude, the recorded grant established an enforceable servitude rather than a revocable license.
Precision Tools leased a warehouse and promised in the lease to resurface a shared access road. Precision assigned the lease to Paragon Construction, which took possession. Because the assignment brought Paragon into privity of estate with the landlord and the covenant touched and concerned the premises, Paragon must perform the resurfacing obligation.
Philip Powell bought a car from a dealer. A manufacturing defect caused an accident that injured a pedestrian, Phoebe Park. Because a manufacturer owes a duty of due care to any foreseeable plaintiff, Phoebe may recover in negligence against the manufacturer even though she had no contractual relationship with it.
A transferor remains obligated after transfer if the duty rests on privity of contract and the person entitled to enforce the promise has not released the transferor. Privity of estate ends with the transfer, but contractual privity continues unless affirmatively released.
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Courts are split. Some jurisdictions require privity and therefore deny subsequent purchasers a direct claim against the original builder-vendor. Other jurisdictions extend the warranty to later buyers despite the absence of privity.
…warranty provisions and the disclaimer of liability contained in the purchase order do not bind them because (1) there was no privity of contract between them and the defendants, (2) the warranty provisions are not binding upon them because they were not read by or explained to Mr. Henningsen before he signed the purchase…
…L. Rev. 938, 947 (1969); Note, Civil Liability Under Section 10B and Rule 10B-5: A Suggestion for Replacing the Doctrine of Privity, 74 Yale L. J. 658, 682-689 (1965), with, e. g. , 3 L. Loss, Securities Regulation 1766 (2d ed. 1961); 6 id. , at 3883-3885 (1969). [^maj-18]: The Commission would not permit recovery…
…Ballantine explains: Where the same claim of title has been consistently asserted for the statutory period by persons in privity with each other, there is the same reason to quiet and establish the title as where one person has held. The same flag has been kept flying for the whole period. It is the same ouster and…
…Martin v Dierck Equip. Co. , 43 N.Y.2d 583, 589-590). Some courts (including ours) recognized certain narrow exceptions to the privity requirement
…Bronze Corp. v. Kostopulos , 203 Va. 66, 69-70, 122 S. E. 2d 548, 551 (1961); see also Va. Code § 8.2-318 (1965) (eliminating privity requirement
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Periods of successive adverse users may be added if privity exists between them. A deed conveying the dominant parcel supplies the required privity and permits the earlier and later periods to combine toward the prescriptive period.
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No privity relationship between the parties is necessary to create a servitude. A recorded grant may establish an enforceable servitude even when the beneficiary holds no ownership or leasehold interest in the burdened land.
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A transferee is bound if the promise touches and concerns the transferred interest, the parties intended the burden to run, and the transfer brings the transferee into privity of estate with the person entitled to enforce the promise.
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No. A manufacturer owes a duty of due care to any foreseeable plaintiff, including users, consumers, and bystanders. Lack of contractual privity is not a defense in a negligence action for product-related injury.
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