BLAW (TERM 2) (2019) – Essay Question
DUE DATE: 4pm on Friday, WK 8
QUESTION 1 (9 Marks)
Hoping to promote his struggling small business, Buster Brady placed the following advertisement in the January edition of his local newspaper:
“Attention all fishermen and fisherladies of Keenanville!! Bring your bait and bring your tackle to Lake Kanchan this Saturday, because local fishing shop “The Crabshack” is offering $10,000 to any person who catches “Big Joanna” – a 20kg Murray cod which has been tagged and released into Lake Kanchan”
Tommy, a local homeless person who survives on the fish he can catch in the lake, was most surprised to see so many people fishing at Lake Kanchan that weekend. Tommy, who was unaware of the advertisement, was even more surprised when, at around 1pm, he caught a huge Murray cod which was tagged: “I am Big Joanna! Claim your $10,000 @ The Crabshack!”.
Still in shock about his win, Tommy was heard telling newspaper reporters that he was simply “..trying to catch something for dinner… but caught $10,000 instead!”
Later that night, and still angry that Tommy won the $10,000 prize without actually participating in the competition, Buster sent him the following sms:
“Sorry mate, changed my mind, no prize money for you today!”
Analyse each party’s rights in contract law (9 marks) (Hint: Only discuss the first three formation elements. You can ignore element of Intention)
QUESTION 2 (11 Marks total)
After getting really good publicity when Tommy’s story appeared on that evening’s Channel 7 NEWS broadcast, Buster had a new idea for bringing in more business. Buster called Tommy with the following offer:
“If you agree to appear in a television advertisement for ‘The Crabshack’, I will pay you $10,000 (paid in monthly instalments) for your services” (**original contract**) Tommy accepted the offer and the advertisement was filmed the next day.
Unfortunately, the advertisement was not enough to get Buster’s business out of financial trouble and when, by June, Buster had only made three payments totalling $3,000, Tommy was told that “Buster would not be able to make further payments until the December holidaymakers brought more business to Keenanville”.
As a compromise, Tommy agreed to the following contract variation: “Buster, if you make one further and final payment of $2,000, I will be willing to forgive the remaining $5,000 of the debt”. Buster happily agreed to this contract variation and immediately made the “final” repayment of $2,000 under the new contract.
As luck would have it, the very next day, Buster won $5,000 on a poker machine at his local pub. Hearing of Buster’s win, Tommy sent Buster the following sms:
“Sorry mate, changed my mind, no discount for you today! Let me know when I can expect to see the next monthly instalment in my bank account as originally agreed”
(a) Assuming that the original contract was valid, analyse each party’s rights in relation to the new (varied) contract (7 marks)
(b) Would your answer be any different if Tommy had told Buster to pay the balance of the debt as a lumpsum payment? (4 marks) (Note: You must refer to case law AND legal articles/ journal articles here)
NOTE 1: Final reminder to students to read Assessment Brief 3 on Moodle for more information and rules on your essay. NOTE 2: Also look out for the sample essay to help you structure your own research essay.
The End