LAWS105: Contract Law - Sally Case Study - Law Assignment Help

Assignment Task:

Purpose:

To enable students to develop their legal reading, research and writing skills while applying and improving their knowledge and understanding of contract law and also to develop comparative law analysis.

Assignment Question 

Sally owns Eastfields, a shopping centre in Sydney. Bill owns a pet store called Pups n Stuff and enters into negotiations with Sally for Bill to move into a shop in Eastfields. After much back and forth, a written lease agreement is prepared to contain all the agreed terms. Some of those clauses are as follows: 

Cl 1 This agreement will run for four years from the date of commencement. 

Cl 4 Sally shall take all reasonable steps to maintain Eastfields’ facilities and common areas in good and safe working condition at all times. 

Cl 6.2 Sally is not liable for any loss arising from Sally’s failure to maintain the shopping centre in a reasonably acceptable condition. 

Cl 6.3 Sally’s liability in respect of any damages directly or indirectly relating to, or in respect of, this lease agreement (including negligence or gross negligence of any kind) will, to the fullest extent permitted by law, be limited to $5,000. 

Cl 7 This written contract constitutes the whole of the agreement between the parties, except as agreed by the parties in writing. 

Sally signs a copy of the agreement and mails it to Bill with a note saying “Please find enclosed the terms upon which I am prepared to offer you a lease in Eastfields. If you agree to the terms, please sign the agreement and return it to me.” 

Bill receives the agreement the next day. However, before Bill signs it, he becomes worried about what might happen to his profits if another pet store opens in Eastfields. Bill calls Sally about his concerns, and Sally says “I promise I currently have no intention of leasing shops to other pet stores as long as Pups n Stuff has a store in Eastfields. Look, I can tell you’re anxious. Don’t rush into anything if you’re unsure. I’ll keep my offer open for another three weeks to give you time to think things over.” 

Despite Sally’s suggestion that he take some time to think, Bill is so reassured by his conversation with Sally that the next day Bill signs the agreement, puts it in an envelope, and mails it off. In his excitement, though, Bill addressed the letter to himself rather than Sally. Three days later, Bill receives his own letter, realises his mistake, and again mails the signed agreement – this time, properly addressed to Sally. 

While reading over the agreement with Bill, Sally realises she forgot to make changes to cl 6.2. Sally sends Bill an email saying: 

Hi Bill, I just realised I should have updated clause 6.2 to my new standard wording. After the first sentence of cl 6.2 (ending in “safe condition”), it should read: 

“Nor is Sally liable for any damage or loss suffered by Bill as a result of Sally’s failure to maintain the common property, whether through negligence or otherwise.” 

I’m sure you won’t have any problems with this change. Let me know if you do, otherwise, I’ll assume cl 6.2 in our agreement is updated to incorporate that second sentence. 

Sally hits ‘send’ on the email just as Bill arrives home from mailing the letter a second time. Bill receives Sally’s email, skims the message but never replies. 

Two years later, Bill is walking through Eastfields when he sees a sign in an empty store – “Coming Soon – Pets n More Megamart”. Furious, Bill calls Sally, but Sally denies every promising Bill that Pets n Stuff would be the only pet store in Eastfields. 

Only a few weeks after his Megamart discovery, when Bill goes to open his shop he is hit with a torrent of water. It turns out that the shopping centre’s maintenance has been neglected in recent months, and one of Eastfields’ water pipes (part of the common property) had burst. Pets n Stuff suffers serious flood damage, ruining most of Bill’s inventory (though luckily all the pets are fine). Bill’s financial loss amounted to $70,000. 

Bill, unimpressed, turns to you for advice. 

Advice on the following: 

1. Can Bill take legal action against Sally for leasing a shop to Pets n More Megamart to open another pet store in Eastfields? 

This question would require you to first determine whether there is a valid contract between Bill and Sally and the terms of the contract. You will need to carefully analyse the legal effect of the relevant interactions between Bill and Sally in relation to the elements of the formation of the contract. 

2. If Bill brought proceedings against Sally for water damage to his shop, can Sally rely on any exclusion or limitation clause? If so, what would be their effect? 

This question requires you to consider the terms of the contract and the effect of the terms.

This LAWS105: Law Assignment has been solved by our Law Experts at My Uni Paper. Our Assignment Writing Experts are efficient to provide a fresh solution to this question. We are serving more than 10000+ Students in Australia, UK & US by helping them to score HD in their academics. Our Experts are well trained to follow all marking rubrics & referencing style.

Be it a used or new solution, the quality of the work submitted by our assignment experts remains unhampered. You may continue to expect the same or even better quality with the used and new assignment solution files respectively. There’s one thing to be noticed that you could choose one between the two and acquire an HD either way. You could choose a new assignment solution file to get yourself an exclusive, plagiarism (with free Turnitin file), expert quality assignment or order an old solution file that was considered worthy of the highest distinction.