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LAWS105: Law - Contract - Sarah O’ Neil Case Study Assessment Answer
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Internal Code: 1AGAHB
Code: LAWS105
Sarah O’ Neil Case Study Assessment Answer
Assignment Task: LAWS105 Sarah O’ Neil is 75 years old and lives alone after her husband, Patrick, passed away three years ago. Sarah does not have many relatives in Sydney but Patrick’s extended family still visits Sarah occasionally. Patrick had always wanted his younger sister, Jacqui, who lives in France to unite and stay with Patrick and Sarah in Sydney. Feeling lonely after Patrick’s death, Sarah is considering the possibility of fulfilling Patrick’s wishes. She wrote a long letter to Jacqui which included the following paragraph: “If you would consider migrating to Sydney, you can come and stay with me at my house which will be jointly yours ... I promise you also all my savings and other properties.” When Jacqui received Sarah’s letter, she thought it was too good an offer to miss. She replied to Sarah stating how pleased she was to hear of Sarah’s kindness. Jacqui started making plans to dispose of her properties in France and made arrangements to leave for Sydney. After Sarah had sent off the letter, she had a big bout of flu, became very ill and forgot about the letter she sent to Jacqui. LAWS105 When Sarah recovered from her illness, she met with her companions who meet monthly for tea and mutual support. Sarah has become good friends with Don Smith, an elderly man of sixties who runs a real estate agency business, Buy Sell Happy Homes. Don has become influential in Sarah’s life, often giving advice to Sarah as to the management of her other investment property, an apartment at Penny Hills. On one of the Friday group get-togethers, Sarah said to Don, “Look, I am tired of taking care of all my properties, please help me to find a buyer for the Penny Hills apartment for a good price”. Don said, “Not a problem at all, I will get my sales manager at my agency to look into this”. On Sunday night, Sarah received a telephone call from Don who said, “Sarah, I have been thinking about your plan to sell your apartment. As you know, the market is bad, buyers are few to be found. As your friend, I would like to help you out by buying it from you but it has to be done quickly. If you decide to sell, you must come to my office at 8 am tomorrow. Think about it, there is no better time, the prediction is that prices will keep falling”. Sarah was very unsure but thought that Don was such a thoughtful person. She decided to attend the 8 am meeting at Don’s office the next day, 1 March. LAWS105 As the appointment was so early and she left her home at 6.30 am, Sarah was feeling giddy by the time she arrived at Don’s office, Buy Sell Happy Homes. There was no other person in the office except a cleaner who was vacuuming the floors. Don presented Sarah with many charts and figures of the latest sale and purchase prices of apartments comparable to her Penny Hills apartment. Sarah was very confused. She told Don, “As I have told you at one of our group get-togethers, I suffer from mild dyscalculia (difficulty with arithmetical skills). This is all strange to me.” Don was relentless and continued to explain from the charts and figures, finally arriving at a price of $550,000 for Sarah’s three-bedroom apartment. Sarah thought the price was rather low but was too afraid and tired to voice her view. She orally agreed that it should be okay then. LAWS105 Don then brought out a document which had the name and address and registered licensing details of Buy Sell Happy Homes. Don told Sarah that the document is an “Expression of Interest” to sell her apartment. As she was already very tired and wanted to leave as soon as possible, she signed the document believing that it was merely an expression of her interest to sell her investment property, as told to her by Don. Sarah was very relieved and took a train home and rested the whole afternoon. LAWS105 A few weeks later, things were getting unpleasant for Sarah. First she started receiving a series of letters from Jacqui saying how happy she was to receive Sarah’s invitation for her to come and stay at Sarah’s Sydney house on a permanent joint basis. Jacqui also thanked Sarah profusely for Sarah’s promises to give Jacqui all of Sarah’s savings and her other properties. Jacqui said that she gladly accepts all of them and will arrive in Sydney in two weeks’ time. Sarah became very concerned and decided that she needs to see her lawyer on these correspondences from Jacqui. Matters also seemed to get out of control for Sarah when she received letters from Buy Sell Happy Homes. One of the letters stated that following her signature of the “Sale and Purchase Agreement” on 1 March to sell her apartment at Penny Hills to their client, Don Smith, a 20 per cent deposit of the sale price of $550, 000 had been deposited into her bank account and that the balance will be given when the transfer of the title of the apartment is completed. Sarah is alarmed as she thought that the document she signed at Don’s office was only an expression of interest to sell. Moreover, she recently met a friend, Julie, who also owns a three bedroom apartment in the same block as Sarah in Penny Hills. Julie told Sarah she was pleased to be able to sell her apartment for $900,000 despite reports of the property slump. Sarah decided to make an appointment immediately with her lawyers, Rex Attorneys, to get legal advice on all her matters. LAWS105 You are a graduate solicitor at the firm of Rex Attorneys. Please prepare a document to discuss with your supervisor, Mr. Rex, on the legal advice to provide Sarah on the following matters: (i) Is Sarah bound by the promises that were stated in her letter to Jacqui? Is there a valid binding contract between Sarah and Jacqui? (ii) Is Sarah bound to sell her house to her friend, Don? Are there any grounds to set aside the sale? (iii) Does Sarah have any cause of action against Don, or against Buy Sell Happy Homes whether under equity or under the Australian Consumer Law in the way he dealt with, or conducted himself, with Sarah in relation to his purchase of Sarah’s property?- The total mark for the questions above is 30 marks. Your answer to questions (i), (ii) and (iii) will be marked as a whole based on the rubric in Appendix B: Rubrics for Assessment Task 2 Assignment. Please answer questions in (i), (ii) and (iii) separately.
- Please also read and apply the instructions on submission of this Assignment including due date which are set out in the Extended Unit Outline available at the LEO page.
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