Luna was invited to dinner at her friend Jack’s house It was dark when she arrived: Commercial law, Assignment, KU, Singapore

Question.1

Luna was invited to dinner at her friend Jack’s house. It was dark when she arrived and there were no lights inside or outside the house, other than a streetlight on the other side of the road.

There was a small, tiled area and two tiled steps in front of the front door.  Luna slipped and slid forward. In trying to stop herself from falling, she put her outstretched arms through the bottom glass panel of the door, injuring her right arm. She bled profusely, having damaged an artery.

Responding to a scream, Jack discovered that Luna had fallen and cut her arm at the front door. Luna was taken to hospital by ambulance and underwent a surgical repair.

Prior to arriving at Jack’s house, Luna had consumed five 200ml glasses containing an even mix of red wine and lemonade.

Jack had earlier hosed down the front wall of the house to remove bat droppings and the steps became wet.

Required: Advise Luna about her prospects of success in action against Jack in the tort of negligence.

Question.2

a. Ricky and Punto are friends who bet with a shared pool of money and a regular arrangement that Punto places the bets they agree to take. Ricky studied the racing guide and decided that the horse ‘Peerless’ was bound to win the 3.30 race at Sydney on 12 October. Ricky sent a text to Punto: ‘Put $5k on Peerless at 3.30 on 12 Oct’. Punto read the text and placed $5k on a horse called ‘Peerless’ running at Darwin at 3.30 on 12 October. The Darwin horse came in last whilst the Sydney one came in first.  Ricky was furious.

Required: Advise Ricky if he has any action against Punto. Refer to principles of contract law to support your answer.

b. Zilla signed a contract with Rock Castle Pty Ltd (‘RC’) to hold her wedding at RC’s venue. Zilla paidRC $85k to provide catering, decorations, and the venue. The castle has a medieval theme and Zilla has planned her wedding around this theme. Zilla planned to use the wedding footage to promote products on her Instagram.  Zilla estimates the promotion will earn her $300k.  Zilla did not inform RC of her social media plans.  Unfortunately, RC has double-booked two events and had to cancel Zilla’s wedding one week before the wedding was due to take place.

Required: Referring to the relevant principles of contract law, advise Zilla what remedies if any, she is likely to receive from RC.

c. Nick negotiated with Roger to build a tennis center on Rogers’s land. They verbally agreed to demolish the existing clubhouse and to build a new clubhouse and courts, according to Nick’s specifications. Nick told Roger, ‘Summer is coming, I need you to start building as soon as possible! My lawyers are just finalizing the details of the contract.’  Roger demolished his old clubhouse and started building the new center. Nick knew this but instructed his lawyers to ‘Go slow’ on the contract.  Finally, Roger demanded to see the signed contract but Nick told him ‘I have changed my mind and we have no contract!’

Required: Advise Roger if he has any action against Nick. Refer only to principles of general law.

Question.3

Wei saw that the ‘Vegetarian Fried Rice’ from The Fat Duck (‘the FD’) restaurant was discounted.  She ate a double portion the night before her Commercial Law exam, unfortunately she suffered severe food poisoning but bravely attempted the exam anyway. The meal contained prawns which unfortunately had been left unrefrigerated on the restaurant kitchen counter. Unfortunately, she failed her exam as a result of being ill and must re-take the course.

Required: Explain which, if any, provisions of the Australian Consumer Law have been breached by the FD.

Question.4

a. Kevin and Lee are brothers who pooled their money and bought a Rolls Royce Silver Ghost, i.e., an antique car with an idea that people might want to hire it for weddings etc. They spent many months restoring it to its former glory.  After hiring out the car for several months, they had made enough money to buy and restore a second car.  Kevin is now restoring the second car, while Lee manages the bookings for the first car.  Most of the money earned in this way is spent on restoration costs and the brothers divide what is left between them.

Required: What business organisation are the brothers operating under? Explain your reasons by reference to the general law.

b. Kim is a director of Fine Foods Pty Ltd (known as FF). Kim is also a director of a company Garden Foods Pty Ltd (known as GF) that competes with FF. Kim is the sole shareholder and director of GF.  Kim has not informed the other directors of this fact, as he finds it useful to know what is going on with FF when GF tenders for catering contracts.

Kim’s father Alex is also a director of FF, but he does not attend any meetings nor read any of the information that FF sends to him.

Required: Advise whether Kim and Alex have breached any of their duties as directors, any defenses they might have, and what the consequences of a breach of duties might be. Refer to legislation and general law principles in your answer.