Corporate And Business Law Assignment: Evaluating Different Cases

Question

Task: You must write an answer to the problem-type question below, using the ILAC (Issues, Law, Application, Conclusion) format, a worked example of which is in the Resources folder.

Dan owns a business which sells second-hand cars. He employs you as its legal advisor. Dan phones you one day and tells you about the following issues.

The first relates to a customer named Mary who says that she was walking around the car lot and saw a white 2002 Honda Jazz for sale for $ 14 999. She went into Dan’s office and said that she would offer ‘$ 14 000 for the Honda Jazz’. He accepted the offer and Mary said that she would collect the car later that day. When she returned to the car lot, Dan handed her the keys of a red 2002 Honda Jazz, which had been at a different part of the car lot. Mary said ‘That’s not the car I bought’. Dan said ‘Well you just said you were buying Honda Jazz and this is the one I thought you were referring to, so here it is’. Mary walks off the car lot and has refused to pay for the red Jazz or take delivery of it. Dan says that as far as he is concerned, Mary should stick by the deal.

Michael was interested in a 2015 Toyota CX truck that was advertised by Dan for $ 20 000. On 2 January Michael posted Dan a letter containing a form in which he offered to buy the truck for $ 18 500. There was a place on the form for Dan to sign indicating his acceptance. The letter reached Dan on 5 January. He signed the nominated place for acceptance, and put the acceptance into the post on 7 January. On 8 January, Michael phoned Dan and said ‘I’ve had second thoughts about the truck, and as I haven’t heard back from you I am hereby formally revoking my offer to buy the truck’. Dan said ‘Too late, I’m delivering it today.’ Later that day, he delivered the truck to Michael’s premises, but Michael refused to accept it. Dan’s letter of acceptance reaches Michael only on 10 November.

One of the salespeople employed by Dan is new, so Dan does not allow him to make deals and requires that the salesman bring any prospective contracts to him (Dan) to sign once they have been signed by a customer. One afternoon the salesman brings Dan five contracts all at once. Dan is in a rush and signs them without looking them over properly. The salesman sends the signed contracts to each of the customers by email. The next day one of the customers, Gordon, comes to the lot to collect the truck he has bought. When Dan sees Gordon getting into the truck he rushes over and says ‘Sorry, I was keeping that truck back for my nephew to buy’. Gordon says that he received the contract which had been signed by Dan, and that he has already taken orders from clients to transport goods. Dan says ‘Well too bad, I signed that contract by accident and didn’t mean to agree to it.’ Gordon’s lawyer has sent Dan a letter demanding that Dan comply with the contract.

Edgar was walking round the car lot and saw a 2014 Holden Statesman with a sticker saying ‘$ 10 000’ on the windshield. He goes into Dan’s office and says ‘I agree to buy the 2009 Holden Statesman you are offering for $ 10 000.’ Dan realises that one of his workers misprinted the sticker and says ‘Sorry, the actual price of that vehicle is $ 15 000, so no deal.’ Dan has received a letter from Edgar’s lawyer demanding that he (Dan) perform under the contract and accept $ 10 000 for the car.

Advise Dan as to his legal position in each case. You should substantiate your statements of law with legal authority. You must confine your research to the law contained in Topics 5 and 6 only.

Answer

Business and corporation law case – Dan v. Clients/customers cases
Issues:In this corporate and business law assignment case, Dan is the seller of second-hand cars, and in his business, he faces some of the major issues with the clients. The issues that are faced by Dan are as follows;

• Mary is the customer of Dan, and they had the agreement regarding the selling of a 2002 Honda Jazz for the amount of 14,000 dollars. At the time of delivery, Mary did not accept the car because according to her she orders White color and Dan provided her Red color.
• Michael is another customer who posted a letter to Dan regarding the purchase of Toyota CX truck at 18500 dollars. Later on, Michael changes his mind regarding the purchase of the vehicle where Dan has already signed the acceptance.
• Gordon one of the customer come to collect the truck which Dan was unable to provide because that truck was for his nephew. The situation created in a way where a salesperson provided various contract to Dan to sign at once and in this situation he has signed on the paper of that truck. Now Gordon lawyer has provided a legal letter to Dan to follow the contract.
• Edgar is another customer who saw a sticker of 10000 dollars on the 2014 Holden Statesman and approaches to get the vehicle. But Dan clears him that the sticker was wrongly printed as the actual price was 15000 dollar. Dan, later on, receives the letter from Edgar lawyer regarding the acceptance of the contract for the car.

Law: The situation of Dan as discussed in this case of corporate and business law assignment consists of some of the effective business and corporate law that will help to understand the condition. The law is as follows;

• Breach of contract law and deal regarding the purchase of vehicles (Dine, & Koutsias, 2019)
• Sales of goods act breach within the business process
• Wrong advertisement for the car price that leads to contract and breach of contract (Clarke et al., 2017)
• The law associated with the offer are also effectively utilized within the cases faced by Dan
• Both the parties need to maintain proper legal activities for making the deal

Application: According to the case study described in this business law assignment of agreement Dan is the owner of the second-hand vehicle selling firm, and he recently has faced some of the major issues regarding the contract and the business activities. In the first situation, Dan faces the issue with Mary because she did not accept the delivery of vehicle because according to her the colour of the vehicle should be white, not red. In this situation, Dan provides the view that the colour of the vehicle was not clear by Mary and for that she needs to accept the vehicle as the model is the same that she demanded. The case of Westerbeke Corporation v. Michael Atherton also shows that the organisation provided the wrong product to the customer that causes an explosion (Trial Court Erred When It Applied Wrong Discovery Standard in Products Liability Case, 2019). This case effectively shows that the thing took place due to the mistake of the customer the same as the case of Dan and Mary where Mary needs to make it clear about the colour of the vehicles.

The second case in this business law assignment of agreement is regarding the contract of Toyota CX truck between Michael and Dan. In this situation, it can also be seen that Dan did his job with the appropriate activity where Michael has done the primary fault and the breach of contract. The situation created in the way that Dan received the letter of Michael lately and after receiving it he signed the acceptance, but meanwhile, Michael changed his mind for buying the product. The situation created due to the lack of and delay in communication. The similar case can be found with Colley v. Overseas Exporters [ii] were due to the poor or even lack of communication the breach of contract took place (Colley v Overseas Exporters: 1921, 2019). The condition shows that Michael should have communicated more effectively with the first letter to make everything clear for Dan. It is highly essential for Michael to accept the deal as still; he did not get any other vehicle.

Dan even faces the situation where a salesperson provide numerous contract to Dan for sign in the rush hours, and due to that he has signed to the truck acceptance paper that he eventually kept for his Nephew. The situation took place in the way that Gordon the customer who applied for the same truck came to receive the delivery after he got the confirmation mail. In this, the contract might have happened mistakenly, but it took place, and now Gordon's lawyer wants to continue with the contract which makes Dan liable to follow the contract.

The last situation that was faced by Dan is regarding the wrong printed price on the sticker of a vehicle. Due to this wrong printed price, Edgar wanted to get the vehicle at that price only, and Dan could not sell it because the actual price was 15000 dollar. The confusion was created due to the wrong printed price of the sticker at the vehicle performed by one of the salesperson within the firm (Knapp, Crystal, & Prince, 2019). In this situation, the legal letter from Edgar did not have a valid point because Dan clearly states that this sticker was wrongly printed and the salesperson also approved it, so there is no reason for Dan to maintain the contract and perform the deal within 10000 dollars. It is the fact that the customer needs to understand the situation and maintain the contract most suitably and effectively.

Conclusion
This corporate and business law assignment eventually concludes the fact that the cases faced by Dan can be maintained with a proper understanding of the situation. It can be concluded that Mary, Michael, and Edgar need to understand the situation as Dan is not liable for the situation and the consequences that took place within them. It can also be concluded that Dan is only liable for the activity where he mistakenly signed the contract and Gordon came to take the delivery of the car. In this situation, it is essential for Dan to maintain the contract and provide the vehicle to Gordon. Business law assignments are being prepared by our law assignment help experts from top universities which let us to provide you a reliable help on my assignment service.

References
Clarke, M. A., Hooley, R. J., Munday, R. J., Sealy, L. S., Tettenborn, A. M., & Turner, P. G. (2017). Commercial law: Text, cases, and materials. Oxford University Press.

Colley v Overseas Exporters: 1921 - swarb.co.uk. (2019). swarb.co.uk. Retrieved 3 April 2019, from https://swarb.co.uk/colley-v-overseas-exporters-1921/

Dine, J., & Koutsias, M. (2019). The Three Shades of Tax Avoidance of Corporate Groups: Company Law, Ethics and the Multiplicity of Jurisdictions Involved. European Business Law Review, 30(1), 149-181.

Knapp, C. L., Crystal, N. M., & Prince, H. G. (2019). Problems in Contract Law: cases and materials. Wolters Kluwer.

Trial Court Erred When It Applied Wrong Discovery Standard in Products Liability Case. (2019). Kelley Uustal. Retrieved 3 April 2019, from https://www.justiceforall.com/blog/case-law/case-studies/westerbeke-corporation-v-michael-atherton-et-al/