ASSIGNMENT 1
You must use the ILAC format when writing your answers.
FOR THIS OUES 1000 WORDS
Task-1
Bob Broke runs a company which manufactures and sells computer equipment. He relates the following set of facts to you:
On 1 January Bob receives an email from Mike Jones which reads: "I offer to purchase 30 Toshiba Satellite laptops for $ 300 each, inclusive of GST, delivery and insurance". In response, on 2 January Bob sent an email to Mike saying "I accept your offer, but the price would have to be $ 300 plus GST. On 3 January Mike sends an email back saying "No, I can't agree to that". On 5 January Bob then sends an email saying "OK, I accept your offer of 1 January", however when he sends the computers to Mike with an invoice for $ 9 000, Mike sends the computers back and refuses to pay for them, saying that he has purchased computers elsewhere.
On 10 January, Bob sends a letter to Tom stating "Please send me 200 Pentium 5 hard-drives at $ 50 each". On 12 January Tom puts a letter into the post stating "OK - I will deliver the hard-drives before the end of the month. Bob subsequently finds that he no longer needs the hard drives, and on 14 January sends Tom an email saying "Please cancel my order of 10 January". Tom's letter reaches Bob on 15 January, and the hard-drives are delivered a few days later with an invoice for $ 10 000, which Bob refuses to pay.
Bob has a friend named Steve, who has done favours for Bob, such as looking after Bob's cat when he (Bob) went on holiday. On 1 February, Steve says to Bob "I need a new computer for my travel agency". Bob says "OK - you have been a real friend to me by looking after my cat, so in return I'll give you a new computer". Bob then changes his mind and says to Steve: "Sorry, mate, trading has been bad these last few weeks - I just can't afford to give you the computers".
Bob is thinking of buying a delivery van. He has been in negotiations with Capital Motors, whose sales manager is Mary. One Monday morning he sees a form sent by Mary in which she offers to sell him a Toyota Hilux 3000 automatic with air conditioning for $ 33 000. The top sheet of the form contains a line which says "I agree to the purchase of this vehicle as specified in this document" and with a space for a signature and date. Bob sets the document aside on his desk, and it soon gets mixed up with piles of other paperwork. Later during the day, he signs the form, thinking that it was the front page of another contract he had been sent by a supplier of microchips. He gives it to his office manager, Tim, and says "Send this by fax". A few days later he receives a call from Mary asking him when he will pick up the vehicle. He tells Mary that he did not order a vehicle from her. When Mary tells him about the fax, he realizes his mistake and tells her that he had sent it by accident. She says "Too bad, we have a deal - I have already ordered another vehicle to replenish my stock".
Assume that you are Bob's legal adviser and that he has asked you for legal advice. Advise him as what contractual liability, if any, he has in the above circumstances, citing relevant statute and case law authority, using the ILAC format.
Instruction:
Rationale
This assessment item will allow you to demonstrate your ability to
- engage in legal research;
- identify the legal issues arising out of novel factual situations, to analyse the applicable law and to differentiate between which rules are applicable and which are not and then apply the law to the problem;
- explain and summarise the applicable law in such a way as to create a report for a client which states what liabilities arise from novel factual situations
And more specifically
- your knowledge of the law of contract formation;
- your ability to undertake an assessment task relevant to the workplace and professional practice.
Presentation
Please comply with the following Style Guide:
1. Do not re-state the question.
2. Use in-text referencing. Do not use footnotes.
3. Names of statutes should be italicised, and followed by the jurisdiction not in italics, for example: Acts Interpretation Act 1901 (Cth). Note the abbreviation for 'Commonwealth' is 'Cth' not 'Cwlth'.
4. The names of the parties must be italicised, but the citation must not, for example: Smith v Jones (1967) 345 CLR 34.
5. An in-text reference to a book should be structured as follows: (Latimer, 2010, p. 75). There is no need to put the author's initial. Note the positioning of brackets, stops and commas. You use 'pp.' only if referring to more than one page. If you are referring to a book with more than one author, the in-text reference would be as follows: (Smith et al, 2002, p. 78).
6. An in-text reference to the subject's Modules should be structured in brackets as per the following example - obviously you will alter the reference depending on the subject, year of study and Module number : (CSU LAW220 Modules, 2015, Topic 7).
7. Do not start a new line simply because you are starting a new sentence.
8. Be careful of apostrophes: director's = of a director, directors' = of many directors, directors = many directors. Also particularly prevalent is confusion between its (it possessive) and it's (contraction of "it is").
9. The following words always start with a capital letter: Commonwealth, State, Act, Bill, Regulation, Constitution, Parliament. Do not unnecessarily capitalise other words.
10. One should not use terms such as can't, won't, don't and shouldn't, neither should one use "ie" and "eg" in formal writing.
11. A sentence must always begin with a full word and a capital letter - so a sentence would start 'Section 55 says...', not 'S 55 says...' or 's 55 says...'. The abbreviation for 'section' in the middle of a sentence is 's'.
12. Start each paragraph on a new line, and leave a clear line gap after the preceding paragraph.
13. You must put page numbers on your assignment.
14. Quotations and excerpts from legislation should be indented from the rest of the text in a separate paragraph. The text in quotations should not be in italics.
15. You must end your assignment with a bibliography that is divided into three separate parts, listing statutes, cases and books / articles / on-line Modules.
16. A listing of a book in a bibliography should appear in accordance with the following format: Latimer, P (2010). Australian Business Law, 29th ed, North Ryde: CCH. If listing a book with multiple authors, do so as follows: Heilbron, G, Latimer, P, Nielsen, J and Pagone, T (2008). Introducing the Law, 7th ed, North Ryde: CCH.
17. When listing statutes at the end of your assignment you should conform to the format: Acts Interpretation Act 1901 (Cth). List the statute only once - you do NOT list individual section numbers relied on. You should not list textbooks as the source of Acts - the Act itself is its own source.
18. When listing cases conform to the format: Gordon v Richards (1976) 123 CLR 32.
19. When listing article conform to the format: Jones, J 'The new analysis of law' (2010) 4 Journal of Recent Law 34.
20. When listing CSU Modules conform to the following format: CSU LAW220 Modules.
Task - 2
Please note that the word limit of 2 000 words is a total for both questions (ie, it is not 2 000 words for each question).
You must use the ILAC format when answering these questions.
Q-1
Sue, Grabbit & Runne is a firm of solicitors. There are three partners, Anne, Mary and Jane. There is a partnership agreement which states that each partner may enter into contracts worth up to $ 50 000, but that any contract in excess of that amount requires the prior agreement of all partners.
Anne and Mary are away at a law conference when Jane sees an advert in the local Law Society Journal for a set of law reports being sold by a local barrister, Tom, who is retiring. The set would cost in excess of $ 100 000 if all the back issues were bought from the publisher, so Jane thinks that the asking price of $ 60 000 is very good, and she agrees to buy them for the firm.
She also decides that because she and Mary both did film studies as part of their undergraduate degrees, the firm would make money if it branched out into film-making, and so she buys a movie camera for $ 20 000 from Edgar. When Anne and Mary return from the conference they are furious to find out what Jane has done and refuse to authorise payment for the law reports and the camera from the firm's bank account.
Advise Tom and Edgar as to their legal position, citing relevant law.
Q-2
Mark worked as route manager for United Trucks Pty Ltd in Queensland from 2003-10. A term of his contract was that if he should leave the company, he could not engage in the trucking industry in Queensland for six years. In 2011 he registered a company called Sunshine Trucks Pty Ltd. Mark owns 99% of the shares. The other 1% is owned by his brother, Greg, whom he elected as sole director and CEO.
Sunshine Trucks operates from Townsville and carries goods all over Queensland. All contracts for haulage of goods are signed by Greg in the name of Sunshine Trucks Pty Ltd. Greg also signed a contract on behalf of the company, taking out a loan of $ 2 million from Grasping Bank in 2011 as start-up capital. The company did well during 2011, 2012 and the first half of 2013, but in July 2013 was not able to repay a loan instalment of $ 100 000 owing to Grasping Bank Ltd.
Mark comes to you for advice after receiving two letters: One from United Trucks Pty Ltd requiring him to cease the operations of Sunshine Trucks Ltd in Queensland, the other from Grasping Bank Ltd threatening to sue him for $ 100 000. Advise him, citing all relevant legal authority.
Please note that you should assume that the restraint of trade clause in the contract that Mark had with United Trucks is valid under the law of contract, and so you should therefore not address that issue.
Instruction:
Rationale
This assessment will allow you to demonstrate your ability to:
- engage in legal research;
- identify the legal issues arising out of novel factual situations, to analyse the applicable law and to differentiate between which rules are applicable and which are not and then apply the law to the problem;
- to explain and summarise the applicable law in such a way as to create a report for a client which states what liabilities arise from novel factual situations
And more specifically:
- your knowledge of the law of partnership and of the legal effect of incorporation, and your knowledge of the law governing the legal relationships within partnerships and corporations and the relationships between these types of business organisation and with outsiders ;
- your ability to undertake an assessment task relevant to the workplace and professional practice.