LAW8500 Australian Commercial and Corporations Law
Assignment 1
Students should note there are three questions each worth 10 marks. You must complete all three questions. The assignment is worth 20% of your assessment in this subject. An aggregate of the three marks you obtain for the three questions herein will be made and then expressed as a mark out of 20.
Please reference all sources.
Word limit for each question is 700 words.
Question 1 (10 marks) – Contract law
Wallace was a professional rugby player who plays for the Brisbane Rough Riders rugby side. During a match early in the season Wallace injures his knee. His injury is quite bad and he is advised that if he has surgery he will not be able to play for the rest of the season, but would be fit for the next preseason and season. An alternative was to resume playing after only three weeks and play out the season with the benefit of pain killing injections and other therapy.
Wallace was not contracted with the Rough Riders for the next season. Wallace was approached by his coach Ronny Rancid, who told him the Rough Riders will give him a contract for next season if he chose the second option to defer surgery. Keen to continue playing and hoping that he could continue his career he played on through the season.
A week before the season end Wallace is told by the club that he would not be playing next season for them. Desperate to play on he looks for another club but was unsuccessful. He feels that if he cannot play for the coming season no club will be interested in him.
Assuming that Ronny Rancid acted with the authority of the club, advise Wallace whether the rough riders were obliged to give him a contract for the following year.
Question 2 (10 marks) – Contract law
Bob Baxter loves to go to theme parks on the Gold Coast. On 1st April Bob attends Wally World theme park. He stands in the queue waiting for a ticket and sees a sign above the ticket box that says, “Look at your ticket, conditions apply.” Bob buys a ticket. On the front of the ticket it says, “See back” and on the back the following clause appeared,
“Any person riding on the Wally World chair lift does so entirely at their risk and assumes all risks incidental thereto. Neither Wally World or their employees will be liable for any injuries sustained in connection with riding the chair lift.”
Bob stood ready to board the chair lift. When it arrived the attendant helped Bob into a seat and pulled a safety bar down in front of him. As the chair lift started to move Bob’s jacket became snagged in a guide post and tore. This was caused by the attendant as he pulled the safety bar down. The safety bar was now not properly fitting around Wallace.
When Bob was high up in the air a pigeon flew into the rides motor short circuiting the motor and causing the ride to stop. The operators of the ride had difficulties restarting it. Eventually they decide to summon the fire brigade to assist people off the ride. No one was in any danger as they waited for the fire brigade.
Bob did not like waiting and thought if he could swing the seat far enough he could jump onto a pylon nearby and descend on the metal ladder attached to the pylon. Unfortunately in trying this he missed the pylon altogether and feel through branches of a tree before hitting the ground. The branches broke his fall a bit. When Bob regained consciousness he found himself in the Wally World first aid room. He had suffered a broken leg as well as a smashed watch in the fall.
Does the exemption clause form part of the contract? Does the exemption clause cover what happened?
Question 3 (10 marks) – Negligence law
Simon and his girlfriend Jane decided on going camping in the Three Gorges National Park in northern New South Wales. The park is set up for campers with a designated camping area with cooking facilities and toilets. It also has an area set aside for parking visitor’s cars and setting up tents. The camping area has a sign directing people to set up camp within designated areas but there is no restriction on where people can go in the actual park.
The park is a wild natural place with dense forests and narrow winding pathways. There are many cliffs and gorges in the park and it has had hikers who have suffered injuries when on hikes in the past.
On their first evening in the park Simon and Jane start cooking a meal on the cooking facilities made available to campers. It is actually Simon’s birthday so they both have a few celebratory drinks. Simon actually becomes a little affected by alcohol and wanders off into the bush to go to the toilet. He completely forgets that there are toilets in the camping area and just thinks finding a nearby bush will be good enough. Unfortunately Simon stumbles through the bush for quite a distance, misjudges his footing and falls over a cliff edge. Fortunately he does survive the fall but suffers serious leg injuries that does incapacitate him in his ability to walk.
Assume that the park does have a duty of care to visitors to the park. Do you think the park breached that duty of care?