LAW 8500 Australian Commercial and Corporations Law
Assignment 1
This assignment deals with critical problem solving skills and comprises 20 % of total marks for this course. This assessment tests course objectives addressing:
• Knowledge of relevant law,
• Application of the law to factual business situations, and
• Use of critical and analytical thinking skills.
Please read the question carefully as well as the marking rubric supplied separately. Make sure you clearly understand the mark allocation for each question and the word limit.
Instruction for assessment tasks;
Students should read the discussion of the ILAC method of addressing problem based questions posted to the course activity page. It requires identification of ISSUE(S) as the initial step in addressing problem based questions. Usually problem based questions in law have 2 – 3 key issues in the question. However, this is a general directive only, and students should examine the question and make their own determination about the key issues.
You are applying the ILAC method to address the problem-based question. There is one question divided into three parts. Note the word limit and mark allocation for each part.
Due Date 5th April 2019 on or before 11.55 pm
Question 1 (20 marks)
Problem scenario
Marcus is a senior investment banker at the prominent Australian bank, Eastpac. He drives a very expensive car to work and parks it in ‘Park Safe’, a secured parking bay in Sydney’s CBD. Upon entering the car park an attendant hands Marcus a ticket. The ticket indicates which parking space he has for the day, along with the date and time the ticket expires. As Marcus occasionally works until the early hours of the morning, he always purchases the full-day ticket, knowing that Park Safe has an attendant on duty 24 hours a day. However, Marcus does not check the back of the ticket which lists, in substantially smaller print, a number of items, including the following:
Park Safe takes no responsibility for any damage caused to any vehicle, parked or otherwise on Park Safe premises, however such damage may be caused. Occupants use Park Safe at their own risk.
Marcus parks his car in the designated spot, locks it and walks to his office. Upon his return from work later that day, Marcus goes to retrieve his vehicle and notices both backlights smashed. He then approaches the driver’s door and notices scratch marks along the paintwork and a smashed window. When Marcus opens his car, he finds that the glovebox forced open and that several items are missing. Outraged and upset, Marcus leaves his keys inside the car and goes to the attendant’s desk to inquire about the damage. He is there for 20 minutes and in that time his car is stolen. Marcus wishes to claim full compensation for the value of his vehicle from Park Safe. His car insurance had expired a few days prior to this incident and he had not had time to reinsure the vehicle.
This is a contract law based question. The following assessment tasks address the problem faced by Marcus. He wants to know what his chances are in getting his losses covered by the car park company. To answer that question you will need to consider if the exclusion clause will enable Park Safe to avoid liability.
Assessment tasks
1. Please identify the legal issue(s) raised in the question and briefly state the law relating to each issue. (5 marks)
(Hint: What is the effect of the exclusion clause? In order to address this you need to examine if it is part of the contract, and does it cover the breach.)
(Maximum word limit 500)
2. Apply the law specifically to the facts of the question, and advise Marcus of his chances of gaining compensation from Park Safe for his losses. (10 marks)
(Hint: It is important demonstrate how you apply the law to the facts of the question. The law effectively is a tool to fix the legal problem/issue/difficulty. What does this really mean in practical terms? Well, using a medical analogy. If I have a medical issue, I see a doctor to explain what is wrong with me, then assist me get better. It is the ‘assisting’, which is the application part. (The explanation came in part 1.) Please think carefully about this aspect of answering a legal problem. I am not simply placing a legal proposition and blindly matching it to the question without explanation. I am taking the legal proposition and carefully explaining its relevance, the ‘why’ I am using it, and then explain what it will achieve.)
(Maximum word limit 1000)
3. Discuss whether the question, particularly in relation to any of the legal issues or factual circumstances raised, created the possibility of alternate arguments. Critically assess one alternate position and briefly explain why this might arise. You only need to address one situation here. If you are of the view there are no situations of that type arising, then explain why you feel that, again by critical assessing your position on this. (5 marks)
(Hint: Note I want you to demonstrate critical thinking here, and you should read material posted to the course study desk on this to assist you. Part of the course objectives involve using critical and analytical thinking skills. Sometimes in a law question, there may be facts that suggest more than one possible answer. There is a degree of ambiguity in the facts allowing for different interpretations. For example, the wording of an exclusion clause may be unclear, making it difficult to say that it does or does not exclude liability for something. This is where critical and analytical thinking skills are important.)
(Maximum word limit 500)