Assignment Task: You act for Penny Polking who attends your office. She is the sole director of Capital City Catering P/L and she is very distressed. Ms Polking tells you that she has a written contract dated 11 June 2022 between the Capital City Catering P/L and Danny Deschamps. Mr Deschamps is an event organiser and a celebrity. The contract notes that Polking agreed to supply premium quality seafood to Mr Deschamps for the sum of $160,000 for a special event he was arranging, the Luxe Legal Ball on 4 August 2022. The seafood comprised of 300 kgs of lobster, 100 kgs of smoked salmon and 50 kgs of imported caviar for the event. Polking arranged for her Capital City Catering driver to deliver the seafood to the Eastside Hotel, King St, Sydney, NSW by 4pm on 4 August 2022. Polking was at the event until about 11pm that night. Things seemed to go well on the night although there were some issues with power outages throughout the evening. Well before the event, under an express term of the contract, Deschamps paid Polking a deposit of $32,000 by EFT on 18 June 2022. An additional term of the contract required Deschamps to pay the balance within 7 days of the delivery of the seafood that is by 11 August 2022. It is now 21 days after the event and Deschamps has not paid the balance due under the contract being $128,000. Answer all the questions below. You must refer to specific provisions of the applicable legislation, court rules, practice directions and any relevant case law in NSW Australia.
1. Assume instead that Polking tells you she wants to sort out the case without the publicity of a trial. Advise her about dispute resolution alternatives which are open to her, which would be most preferable and its advantages. Refer to relevant practice directions, court rules and legislation.
2. Now Polking informs you that she and her partner, Harry, are very angry and if she does not get paid by Deschamps she intends to send Harry and his mates around to 'rough Deschamps up' to make him pay. Do you as a legal practitioner working in litigation have any ethical or other duties to Polking, to the court or to society as a whole? If so, what are those duties and what should you do given Polking's comment. Discuss and refer to relevant conduct rules and any cases.