SCHOOL OF LAW
200432 Commercial Law
Quarter 1, 2015
ASSESSMENT 2: ASSIGNMENT (25 marks)
This document consists of five (5) pages including this page. The assignment questions are on pages 4 and 5.
PLEASE READ THE FOLLOWING INSTRUCTIONS AND INFORMATION CAREFULLY BEFORE ATTEMPTING THE ASSIGNMENT QUESTIONS.
1. INDIVIDUAL ASSIGNMENT
The assignment is to be completed by an individual student. There are 2 (two) questions for this assignment. Question 1 is worth 17 marks and Question 2 is worth 8 marks. Students should answer both questions. This assessment task has a maximum of 1500 words.
All students are required to learn how to use Turnitin well in advance of the due date for the assignment. Difficulty in using Turnitin at the last minute will not be accepted as an excuse for missing the deadline (except in the event of a verifiable problem with UWS systems at the relevant time). You will be able to resubmit your papers to Turnitin as many times as you wish before final delivery, but bear in mind that it can take up to 24 hours for a fresh Turnitin report to be generated – so plan ahead to allow yourself time to work on your paper again after the first Turnitin report and still have time to resubmit for another report (or to do this as many times as you wish).
• Submit a final version. Do not submit a draft. There will be no resubmissions.
• Do not submit the assignment by e-mail, under any circumstances.
• Students MUST KEEP A HARD COPY of the assignment as submitted.
2. ASSIGNMENT DUE DATE
The assignment is due in Week 7, Monday, 23 February 2015. The delivery of the final copy of your assignment must be submitted to Turnitin, which is available on the vUWS site before 7pm on Monday, 23 February 2015.
3. RETURN OF ASSESSMENT MATERIAL
No hard copies of Assignment will be returned in class. Assignments can be viewed on vUWS as soon as they are marked.
4. CRITERIA AND GENERAL ASSESSMENT REQUIREMENTS
Assignment questions are fact based legal problems. The following will be assessed in the Assignment:
Learning Outcomes 2 and 3:
2. Identify and demonstrate understanding of key legal concepts.
3. Apply knowledge and understanding of common law and statutory tortious, contractual concepts in order to analyse and solve practical problems.
Presentation & style:
• Organises a clear and coherent assignment
• Write clearly, accurately and grammatically
• Punctuates appropriately
Referencing sources:
• References sources according to the Australian Guide to Legal Citation (see ‘Referencing’ below) or in accordance with the referencing style adopted by the school that provides their course.
Content and knowledge:
• Identifies and explains the relevant area of common law and statutory legal systems
• Integrates relevant cases and legislation to support their answer to the legal problem
• Applies the legal principles and legislation to the facts of the legal problem
• Concludes the answer to the legal problems, including any defences, remedies or penalties.
Submission requirements
Word length A word limit of 1500 words has been set, which excludes footnotes, titles and headings. The word limit will be strictly enforced. There will be a 1 mark penalty for every 100 words in excess of the word limit – or part thereof. For example, an essay that is 1,851 words long will be deducted 4 marks. Please remember that this assignment has been structured so that a well-considered and scholarly written assignment may be achieved within the prescribed word limit.
Format There are strict formatting requirements with which students are required to comply. The unit coordinator reserves the right to refuse to mark assignments that are not submitted in accordance with formatting requirements:
? Do not manipulate the margins of the page.
? Use Arial 12 point font.
? Assignments must be one and a half spaced or double spaced.
? Ensure your full name and student number appears on the footer of each page.
? Number all pages consecutively.
? Students must use footnotes in accordance with the AGLC.
? Do not provide a bibliography.
Referencing Assignments may be referenced in accordance with the Melbourne
University Law Review Association, Australian Guide to Legal Citation (Melbourne University Law Review Association Inc, 3rd ed, 2010). This guide is available electronically at:
http://mulr.com.au/AGLC3.pdf. Alternatively students may comply with the referencing requirements of their course. A business citation system only (it could be Harvard or some modified Harvard system).
Full details of referencing systems can be found at: http://library.uws.edu.au/citing.ptml. A full range of resources for searching and citing references is available at: http://library.uws.edu/training.phtml
Only Electronic submission/
Turnitin Students are required to keep a hard copy of the submitted assignment.
The assignment must be submitted electronically via the Commercial Law (PG) Assignment Turnitin link on the vUWS site. Please read the Turnitin Instruction Manual prior to submission. Students may not hand in hard copies. No other method of assignment submission will be accepted. Further information in regard to the submission of the assignment will be posted in the assessment folder of the vUWS page.
NO Assignment cover sheet Please do NOT affix an Assignment Cover Sheet to your assignment. By uploading a submission into Turnitin students certify that: (1) they hold a copy of the assignment, if the original is lost or damaged; (2) no part of this assignment or product has been copied from any other student’s work or from any other source, except where due acknowledgement is made in the assignment; (3) no part of the assignment has been written/produced for the student by any other person, except where collaboration has been authorised by the unit lecturer concerned; and (4) they are aware that this work may be reproduced and submitted to plagiarism detection software programs for the purpose of detecting possible plagiarism, which may retain a copy on its database for future plagiarism checking.
Late submission Late assignments must be submitted to the Late Commercial Law (PG) Assignment Turnitin link on the vUWS site for this unit. No other method of late assignment submission will be accepted.
A student, who submits a late assessment without approval for an extension, will be penalised by 10% per day up to 10 days, i.e. marks equal to 10% of the assignment’s weight will be deducted as a ‘flat rate’ from the mark awarded. For example, as the assignment has a possible highest mark of 30, the student’s awarded mark will have 3 marks deducted for each late day. Saturday and Sunday are counted as two days. No assignment will be accepted after the marked assessment task has been returned to students.
Extension of due date for submission The assignment is to be submitted via Turnitin by the due date and appointed time. Extensions will only be granted in the event of serious illness or serious misadventure (proved to the satisfaction of the unit coordinator) that prevents you from completing the assessment by the due date.
If students need to apply for a short extension of time to complete an assessment item, they should complete the ‘Request for Extension’ form available from the UWS website at Student Forms. This form needs to be submitted three days before the due date of the assignment. An application for an extension does not automatically mean that an extension will be approved.
Where special consideration is sought for circumstances involving more than three consecutive days or more than five days within a teaching period, students should complete a ‘Special Consideration During Teaching Session’ application available through eForms via MyUWS.
Marking criteria and standards
Fail (0-49%)
The student’s performance fails to satisfy the learning requirements specified. For example, poor knowledge or application of the law, irrelevant discussion, poor standard of presentation and inaccurate referencing.
Pass (5064%)
The student’s performance satisfies all of the basic learning requirements specified and provides a sound basis for proceeding to higher-level studies in the subject area. The student’s performance could be described as satisfactory.
Credit (65-
74%)
The student’s performance, in addition to satisfying all of the basic learning requirements specified, demonstrates insight and ability in analysing and applying relevant skills and concepts. The student’s performance could be described as better than competent.
Distinction (75-84%) The student’s performance, in addition to satisfying all of the basic learning requirements, demonstrates distinctive insight and ability in analysing and applying relevant skills and concepts, and shows a well-developed ability to synthesise, integrate and evaluate knowledge. The student’s performance could be described as distinguished.
High distinction
(85%+)
The student’s performance, in addition to satisfying all of the basic learning requirements, demonstrates distinctive insight and ability in analysing and applying relevant skills and concepts, and shows exceptional ability to synthesise, integrate and evaluate the law. The student’s performance could be described as outstanding.
THE ASSIGNMENT QUESTIONS
Question 1 (17 Marks)
Western University (WU) had a large campus in suburban Sydney. In order to provide a reliable connection for staff and students, WU bought a disused Monorail from a theme park in Queensland and arranged for WU maintenance staff to install it in May 2014. Because of funding cuts several senior maintenance staff had taken early retirement and had not been replaced. The remaining staff were keen, but inexperienced, and none had worked on such a large scale project before.
The monorail commenced operation in July 2014 in time for second semester. John was a first year student in the School of Business at Western University. He was blind in one eye and had lost most vision in his remaining eye, but used a cane to assist him in getting around the campus. One day he was walking across the campus under the monorail track when he slipped on a large pool of oil, and suffered a broken leg and arm. Subsequent investigation showed that the oil had dripped from an inadequately sealed tank installed by WU staff as part of the monorail system.
When John’s mother Steffi was told he was in hospital she tried to get there as soon as possible. In her panic she failed to turn on her car’s indicator lights when slowing down to turn right into the hospital car park. Her car was hit by Michael, who was driving the car behind. Steffi suffered whiplash, and also suffered nervous shock on seeing John. She will need psychiatric treatment for some years, as well as having a permanent partial loss of movement in her neck. John has suffered permanent loss of use of his right arm. Michael is uninjured but has extensive damage to his car.
In these circumstances, advise WU, John, Steffi and Michael of any rights or liabilities they may have in the tort of negligence ONLY. In your answer, discuss the likelihood of success of each of these actions and appropriate defences which may be raised by WU, John, Steffi and Michael giving full legal reasons and referring to decided cases to support your answer.
Question 2 (8 Marks)
Jeremy owns a successful restaurant business in Parramatta. Jeremy’s friend, Max wishes to purchase a restaurant at Parramatta. On Friday evening, Max finds a Lebanese restaurant, ‘Kababs Galore’, for sale. The restaurant is full of customers and is located at the corner of George Street and Smith Street, Parramatta. ‘Kababs Galore’ is also very close to John’s restaurant at Duck Avenue in Parramatta. The following Monday, Max speaks with Jeremy about his plans. Max explains to Jeremy that he is keen to buy the restaurant but that he has never owned a restaurant or even worked in the industry before, and that he would appreciate Jeremy’s advice and guidance. Jeremy assures Max that ‘Kebabs Galore’ appears to be a very successful restaurant and that he is “almost guaranteed” to make a profit in the first year itself. Max immediately decides to purchase ‘Kababs Galore’ with his brother Cameron. One year later, they are on the verge of bankruptcy. The restaurant was not as popular or profitable as they expected and the turnover has declined even further since they took over the business.
Has Jeremy committed the tort of negligent misstatement? Giving full legal reasons and referring to decided cases to support your answer focus on whether or not Jeremy owed a duty of care to: (1) Max and (2) Cameron; the likelihood of success if Max and Cameron bring an action against Jeremy; and appropriate defences which may be raised by Jeremy.