Part II:
Problems and Letter to a lawyer (20 marks)
1. Alice owns a small wedding stationery
business she designs and prints wedding invitations. Her husband John is a large commercial
printer, and because of the large volume he obtains his paper at a discounted
rate. Thursday evening, after she had cooked Johns favourite dinner, Alice
asked John to supply all her paper needs at his cost price a substantial
discount for Alice. John replied Certainly honey anything you ask.
With
a cheaper paper supply secured, Alice decides to expand into a variety of
coloured inks. She rings Mary her ink
supplier on Friday morning, and they discuss gold and silver ink. Aliceis
concerned about the high price, and considers, that as a good customer, she
should receive a discount. She offers to pay $50 a cartridge for the silver ink
and $80 a cartridge for the gold ink.
Mary is concerned this is too high a discount, and tells Alice she will
need to think about it. Alice says, Take a week to think if you dont call
me before next Friday with a different price, weve got a deal. Ill take ten
of each.
In
the meantime, Alice received a circular from Janes Inks. Janes Inks are
offering an opening special gold and silver ink cartridges for $40.00 each.
Alice immediately rings Jane and orders 20 cartridges of each colour.
On
the following Friday, as part of her regular ink delivery from Mary, Alice
receives 10 gold and 10 silver cartridges. She rings Mary and tells her she
doesnt want them as she has a better deal from Jane. Mary insists she takes them as they have a
contract.
Alice
then receives a call from Janes Inks, advising that, due to overwhelming
demand, they will not be able to fill her order, but offering her a new price
of $90.00 per cartridge of gold and silver ink.
Alice is furious and tells them they must supply her at the earlier
price, as they have a contract.
Alice
calls Mary back and tells her she will keep the cartridges. Mary tells her she can have them for a
price of $90.00 each.
She
then calls John to organise a paper delivery.
He quotes her normal commercial prices.
Alice reminds him of their deal.
He laughs, and says That was dinner, this is business.
Advise Alice of her rights
with respect to Mary, Janes Inks and John.
(6 marks)
2. Joanna’s aunt recently died, and in her Will
Joanna was left the house and its contents, which included valuable paintings
and antique furniture.
Joanna and
her husband, Peter, have been suffering financial difficulties, and Peters
building business has also been struggling financially. This is because most of his clients are
friends and it has been hard to get them to pay for work done.
Joanna
decides to keep the house but sell the contents at a public auction. Once word of this sale gets out, she is
contacted by relatives who desire certain objects. Her second cousin, Marie, writes to her,
stating that she had been promised the big guilt edged mirror in the main
hallway by the aunt. As it seems the
aunt had forgotten the promise, Marie would buy it from Joanna for the nominal
sum of $50 (the mirror is an antique worth $5,000). Marie stated that she will assume the mirror
is hers if she does not hear from Joanna within two weeks after the postmark on
the letter. She also hints that
outstanding payments due to her husband’s business for renovations done to
Marie’s house might be significantly delayed if she does not get her way.
As Peter has
told her that the business is on the brink of collapsing unless some payments
are received soon, Joanna decides to sell the mirror to Marie for $50.
Advise Joanna fully on what common law
grounds she may now use to attack the transaction with her second cousin, Marie.
(5 marks)
(Do not assume an argument you make is
correct; discuss all reasonable arguments)
Scenario for the letter:(9 marks)
On 15 January
Peter brought his car to your garage to have certain mechanical repairs carried
out. That evening thieves entered the garage and the car entertainment system,
valued at $1200 which Peter had installed in his car was stolen. The thieves
were able to get into the garage because you forgot to turn the alarm on when
you left for the night. The next day, having completed the repairs, you used
Peters car to drive to your friends house. While the car was parked outside
the house someone (who has not been identified) drove into it causing $16,000
worth of damage.
Peter, whose
family has owned a number of cars, had employed you regularly over the past
five years for servicing and repair work. When Peter brought his car to the
garage on this occasion he entered, as he always had done on such occasions, an
office on the wall of which was displayed a small notice stating Customers are
kindly invited to note that all vehicles are accepted only subject to the
conditions on our receipt forms. On each previous occasion when he collected
the car and paid for the work, Peter had been handed a document headed
Receipt. On it were Peters name, a description of the car and the work
carried out, a statement of the amount owing and an acknowledgment of payment
of that amount. At the bottom of the receipt was printed:
We regret that we cannot accept any
responsibility for damage or loss caused to customers vehicles by fire,
vandalism or otherwise howsoever caused.
You
have displayed the notice in the office and used the same receipt form during
the past five years, but Peter says he has never read either of them.
You
consider the applicable law and decide on whether you must offer compensation
or can refuse to compensate Peter for the loss of the entertainment system
and/or the damage to the car. You need
to run it past your lawyer before responding to Peters demands. You are
requested to write a letter to a lawyer practising in a suitable area of law
along the following lines:
Introduce yourself;
Explain the legally significant facts;
Explain what it is you want to do
and why you think you are entitled to act that way, within the scope of the law and
Request the legal practitioner
for advice about the legality of your plans and about any other legal
concerns which you may have arising from these circumstances.
Notes/advice:
For
the purposes of this letter you may invent the name of a lawyer or firm,
ideally one that indicates the invented lawyer or firm is practising in the
right area of law for this problem.
Referencing: Wherever you have taken an idea from
another source, reference the source in a footnote to show support for the
points you are making, and also to demonstrate the amount of research you have
done.
Any
direct quotes (words that are copied from another source and are not your own words)
must be marked with quotation marks, and the source must be referenced in a
footnote.
Citation
style:Harvard style
as per the Business School style requirements is acceptable for this
assignment. However, if you are including references to cases or legislation,
please use the following styles (the Acts and cases themselves are not
relevant, they are only examples note where the italics are and also the
spacing and absence of punctuation):
Legislation:
Copyright Act 1968 (Cth) s 36
Case:
Grant v Commissioner of Patents (2006) 154 FCR 62; [2006] FCAFC 120
Some
suitable research references/sources to get you started:
(Prescribed text) James, Nickolas, Business
law (John Wiley & Sons, 3rd
ed, 2013).
Online Modules on vUWS.
Gibson, Andy
& Douglas, Fraser, Business law (Pearson, 7th ed, 2013)
Turner, Clive, Australian
Commercial Law (Law book, 29th ed, 2013)
Other
recent textbooks on Business Law (consult the Library catalogue)
Internet
resources may be used, provided they are reliable and reputable. Ensure that
internet sources are on Australian law. Note:
Wikipedia articles should not be used in this assessment task.
Suggested
format for the letter …You should try to write as simply and as clearly as
possible, remembering not to use informal language like contractions or text
language.
As marks are awarded for structure as well as content, your return
address should be written in the top right-hand corner of the letter, with the
date on the line below. Write the month as a word.
The address of the person to whom you are writing should be written on
the left, starting on a line below the date of the letter.
The salutation should appear two lines below the recipients address, or
about 1/3 down the page.When
the recipient’s name is unknown to you, use Dear Sir or Dear Madam; if
gender is unknown Dear Sir or Madam.It is
always advisable to try to find out a name. If you know the name, use the title
(Mr, Mrs, Miss or Ms, Dr, etc.) and the surname only. Eg. Dear Mr Smith
The body of the letter has three parts: the first part
is an introduction which should explain who you are and why you are
writing. This should be a short
paragraph. The middle part gives the
relevant information and details behind the writing of the letter. Keep the
information to the essentials and concentrate on organizing it in a clear and
logical way. The final part tells your
reader what action you expect or would like them to take.
Left aligned and two lines below the body of
the letter will be your signing off. If you did not know the name of the person to whom
you are writing, end the letter with Yours faithfully but if you did know the
person, end the letter with Yours sincerely.
You then sign your name, and as your signature is likely to be difficult
to read, you type your name underneath the signature.
Make sure
you PROOFREAD your letter. Poor spelling and grammar will not be excused.
