Cavalier Bremworth Welcomes Ruling on Warranties

Cavalier Bremworth Welcomes Ruling on Warranties

New Zealand carpet maker Cavalier Bremworth says it welcomes the clarity that has come with a High Court ruling on the matter of warranties issued on its new range of synthetic carpets, given most manufacturers used similar terms and conditions.

Rival Godfrey Hirst sought an injunction against the company alleging numerous breaches of the Fair Trading Act in how the company portrayed the INVISTA warranties for the recently launched synthetic products.

While Justice Murray Gilbert found the company had been in breach of the Fair Trading Act with some promotional statements made on its website, these were removed once the issue was raised by Godfrey Hirst and prior to the court hearing commencing.

Justice Gilbert effectively dismissed the majority of claims raised by Godfrey Hirst and declined to issue an injunction against the warranty booklet. He directed Cavalier Bremworth to have three words removed from the warranty label that was provided by the yarn-supplier INVISTA for the three ranges at issue.

CEO of Cavalier Bremworth, Brent Wollaston said the warranties on Cavalier Bremworth wool carpets – which account for the vast majority of our sales - were not at issue.

“The warranties at the centre of this issue relate to only three of the 50-plus products we have in the market. The warranties complained about by Godfrey Hirst contained terms and conditions that are similar to those still used by Godfrey Hirst in the Australian market and by them in the NZ market up until late last year.

“We are certainly disappointed by the decision by Godfrey Hirst to resort to legal action – a move which was first and foremost designed to prevent us from selling an exceptionally good product that is threatening to their market.”

Mr Wollaston said the company would be seeking costs from Godfrey Hirst as a result of the ruling.

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