LAW6078: Chenglei informs Harry that he is an agent for Luxury Hair Limited, a company specializing in hair care products: Commercial Law coursework, BCU, Singapore

You are required to produce a coursework assessment by submitting legal advice of a commercial nature based on the following fictional scenario:

Chenglei informs Harry that he is an agent for Luxury Hair Limited, a company specializing in hair care products. He shows Harry a catalog of their product range. Harry decides to order 1,000 hairdryers described in the catalog as ‘Luxury Hair Air Hair Dryer– Professional hairdryer’ at the cost of £100 per unit for his chain of hair salons within the UK. Chenglei gets Harry to sign a sales contract which he notes specify that the contract is between the customer and Chenglei. It also contains a clause that states the following; ‘the agent (i.e. Chenglei) shall not be liable for any loss or damage resulting from the use by the customer of the goods that are sold within this contract’ Harry distributes the hairdryers to his salons. He receives a very urgent telephone call from his London salon to confirm that there have been issues with the quality of the hairdryers on the first day of use. He explains that one of the hairdryers overheated and set on fire, scalding the client and burning their scalp, and damaging her hair.

Four days later, Harry contacts Chenglei to tell him what has happened. Harry explains that the hairdryers he sold him are defective, and informs him that he wants compensation for the goods and the client’s pain and suffering. Chenglei informs Harry that he is not liable and refers him to the abovementioned clause, a copy of which he provided to Harry after he signed it. Not knowing what to do, Harry told his friend Mingli, a trainee
solicitor, what had happened and that Chenglei, who is a sales agent was denying liability. Mingli said that she wasn’t 100% sure, but that she thought that Harry might be able to claim against Luxury Hair Limited, the manufacturer of the hairdryer.