Assignment Document

Commercial and Company Law

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  • " Company Law Table of ContentsAnswer 1 ......................................................................................................................................... 3Answer 2 ................................................................

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  • " Company Law Table of ContentsAnswer 1 ......................................................................................................................................... 3Answer 2 ......................................................................................................................................... 4Answer 3 ......................................................................................................................................... 5References ....................................................................................................................................... 7 2 Answer 1The issue in the first part is that whether there lays any contract between Vanessa and Nikhil CarSales Pty Ltd or not. There are certain essential elements that determine the presence of acontract between two parties. There should be an offer made by one party and the same offershould be accepted on the expressed terms unaltered by the other party in the first place. This1 presence of offer and acceptance is one of the first steps of building a contract . It should bestated in this matter that Nikhil Car sales had come up with the advertisement for the sale of usedcars in the newspapers. This shows that Nikhil Car Sales had given an invitation to treat and thiswas taken as against an offer by Vanessa. She opted to buy one of the cars and thus the offercommenced. The second essential of forming a contract is the presence of consideration. In thegiven matter, the money offered by Vanessa that is $9,500 is the consideration. Thus, it can besaid that the essential elements of forming a contract have been satisfied between the two ofthem. Moreover, there are certain other conditions as well which should be validated before a contract2 is enforced. The parties to the contract should have mutual consent in the matter . This impliesthat both the parties to the contract should agree to the terms of the contract and none of theparties should be in a preferential situation over the other. In the given instance both Nikhil andVanessa had consent in the matter and agreed to the terms that were mutually consented by eachone of them. Competence of the parties to enter into the contract is another aspect that needs tobe looked into. This implies that the parties in the contract should have the legal validity to enterinto the contract. They should be of proper age and should not have any legal incompetence toenter into the contract. In the given situation, there is nothing which points that either Nikhil orVanessa were legally incompetent to enter into the contract. Hence, it is proved beyond anyreasonable doubt that all the elements of a valid contract are present in the matter and hencethere exists a valid contract between Vanessa and Nikhil Car Sales Pty Ltd. There is however absence of any warranty clause in the matter. But this cannot invalidate thecontract because the presence of a warranty clause in every contract is not mandatory and it can3 remain absent in certain contracts . If both the parties were aware of the absence of the warranty1 Weitman v Katies (1977) 2 TPC.2 Walker Corporation Pty Limited v Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority [2008] HCA.3 C. F Turner, Australian Commercial Law (LBC Information Services, 2001).3 clause in the contract , and raised no objection as far as the validity of the contract is in question,then the absence of the clause does not let the entire contract to be invalidated. The absence ofthe warranty clause would not affect the nature of the contract and the agreement entered into by4 Nikhil and Vanessa would remain in effect . Answer 2As far as common law is concerned, it can be said that negligence in the matter has beenconducted by Nikhil in the matter and Vanessa has rights to claim for compensation of thenegligence caused towards her. The principle behind negligence is that the party that complainsof should owe to the other party complaining a duty to take care and the party that complainsshould be able to prove that the damage that he has suffered is a consequence of that breach of5 duty . Thus, it can be said that there are certain essentials of negligence namely the wrongdoer6 owed a duty of care and that duty was breached by him . However, had there been anotherreasonable person on that position, the beach would have been avoided. Subsequently, the lossthat was suffered by the plaintiff should be a result of the breach of duty of care owed by the7 defendant in any matter . The duty however is not any ordinary duty or a moral obligation. It is a8 legal duty to take care breaching which might result in a liability for paying damages . In thegiven situation, Nikhil was aware that Vanessa was relying on him for making the decision aboutbuying the care. In spite of being aware he chose to give her false representations. He deviatedfrom his professional duty of stating the truth about the previous ownership of the car as well asthe actual odometer running of the car. This indicates his failure in any position to comply withhis duty of care. Thus, it can be said that the initial two essentials have been satisfied by Nikhilthat establish his negligence in the matter. It is also beyond reasonable doubt that Vanessa did suffer damage because of the negligence ofNikhil. The back gear of the car was not working within three months of her purchasing the car.She also said that she had no intentions to buy the car if she was made aware of the actualcondition of the vehicle. However, she ended up buying the same only because she was falsely4 G. C Cheshire, C. H. S Fifoot and M. P Furmston, Cheshire And Fifoot's Law Of Contract (Butterworths, 2009).5 Donoghue v Stevenson [1932] AC.6 S. G Corones, The Australian Consumer Law (Thomson Reuters (Professional) Australia, 2011).7 Hedley Byrne & Co Ltd v Heller [1964] AC.8 (Bolam v Friern Hospital Management Committee (1957) 1 WLR.4 represented with the facts about the car. Hence it can be conclusively said on this aspect that theloss suffered by Vanessa is only because of the negligence of Nikhil. Thus, negligence in thematter is proved beyond any reasonable doubts. However, it should also be noted that Vanessa contributed towards the negligence which happensto be a valid defense against the accusation towards Nikhil. It has been well established thatVanessa had options of checking about the whereabouts of the car. Moreover, the hand book wasplaced right inside the car which contained all the details about the car. In spite of this, Vanessablindly relied on the representations made by Nikhil and executed the purchase. This indicatesthat Vanessa had contributed towards the negligence. Hence, as far as common law is inquestion, there are no remedies that Vanessa has in the matter. Answer 3In the given matter, when Vanessa went to examine the car, she was told and shown that the carhad a single previous owner and it had only run for 75,000 kilometers. However, in fact, the carwas owned by a company previously and it was a fleet car. Moreover, it had actually run for175,000 kilometers. However, it should also be noted that inside the car, there was a servicebook of the car and it contained all the details of the car and its operations. The service book wasnot hidden from Vanessa and she was allowed to examine the car fully. On the other hand,Nikhil himself told Vanessa that the car was the best one out of the lot and had only one ownerpreviously. The odometer of the car also reflected the reading that was communicated by Nikhil.Vanessa came to know about the true condition of the car from her mechanic. It can be said thatVanessa does have rights under the common law. The conduct of Nikhil can be said to be amisleading and deceptive conduct. Section 18(1) of the ACL prohibits a person from entering9 into any misleading or deceptive conduct in his business . The preconditions in this regard arethat the defendant should be a person and should be engaged in some trade or commerce. Heshould subsequently have engaged in a conduct that is misleading or deceptive. Deceiving is said9 Section 18 - Misleading or deceptive conduct(1) A person must not, in trade or commerce, engage in conduct that is misleading or deceptive or is likely tomislead or deceive.(2) Nothing in Part 3 1 (which is about unfair practices) limits by implication subsection (1).Note: For rules relating to representations as to the country of origin of goods, see Part 5 3.5 to have been done when a person is made to believe something that is false or would have led toan error in thoughts. Misleading is said to have been done when the person is led astray in action. A breach under Section 18 of the ACL gives civil consequences in the hands of the plaintiff.10 Opinions expressed also constitute a breach under this section . Where the opinion is believed tobe true by the other party and the opinion turns out to be actually a false one given intentionally,then such an instance is taken to be a breach under the law and the plaintiff becomes entitled to11 receive remedies .In the given situation, though Vanessa had the opportunity of checking all the details about thecar, yet the fact cannot be overlooked that she was deceived. The wrongful odometer readingwas shown to her and there is no justification to this. Moreover, it was also told to her that thecar had a single owner. This statement is partially true because the car was a fleet car and12 belonged to a company. Thus, these constituted puff statements made to deceive her .Moreover, an opinion was also expressed by Nikhil regarding the car that he felt it was the best.Hence, it can be said that all these were done only to execute the sale and deceive Vanessa. Thus,Vanessa can not only claim for damages under Section 236 but also can ask for compensatoryorders under Division 4 of the ACL.10 Weitman v Katies (1977) 2 TPC.11 Multiplex Constructions Pty Ltd v Amdel Ltd [1991] ATPR.12 Russell V Miller, Miller's Australian Competition And Consumer Law Annotated (Thomson Reuters (Professional)Australia, 2011).6 "

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