1 PART A: CAN GRACE TERMINATE THE CONTRACT WITH HUGH? To terminate a contract, sufficient evidence should be gathered through performance; agreement; operation of law; breach or by frustration. Here in this case, the most relevant way to form an eligible termination will be the breach. 1.1 The nature of conditions A condition is an important term to the contract, and breach of a condition will give the innocent party the right to immediately seize the contract and to claim damages. To determine whether a condition is breached, examining the nature of the contract will be the first step. In regards to the test in Tramways Advertising Pty Ltd v Luna Park (NSW) Ltd (1938) 38 SR (NSW) 632, 641-2: "The test of essentially is whether it appears …show more content…
form the general nature of the contract...or from some particular term or terms, that the promise is of such importance to the promisee that he would not have entered into the contract unless he had been assured of a strict or a substantial performance of the promise, as the case may be, and this ought to have been apparent to the promisor." 1.2 Breach of conditions The motivation for Grace to launch this contract with Hugh is to expanding her business by liaising with Hugh’s computer business and acquiring his professional technical skills.
As the term addressed in the contract: ‘Computers are guaranteed to be best quality fully operational machines’, it is apparent a fundamental and essential obligation under the contract; however, and providing the defects opposite to his guarantee, it is considered “a fundamental term the failure to perform which goes to the root of the contract and entitles the vendor to renounce further performance‘”(Brien v Dwyer (1978) 141 CLR 378 at …show more content…
393). With this particular strong word ‘ guarantee’ embedded in the contract, there is no ambiguity in regards to the term’s critical aspect to the entire contract, and the defects of computers which Hugh supplied can be used as evidence to show an actual breach in performance of the contract. 1.3 Conclusion The explanation from Associated Newspapers Ltd v Bancks [1951] 83 CLR 322 at 337-338 clearly elaborates the importance in respect to the fundamental condition being breached towards to the termination of a contract: “A substantial failure for the condition to perform went to the root of the contract and gave the defendant the right immediately to treat the contract as at an end”.
In this case, without the essential term was executed as it stipulated in the contract, and with wording of “guarantee” to emphasize the materiality of the specific term (Tramways Advertising Pty Ltd v Luna Park (1938) 61 CLR 286, 302-3), and such a failure “goes to the root of the matter ”(Bettini v Gye [1876] 1 QBD 183 at 188). Therefore as an innocent party, Grace is fully entitled to terminate the contract as the fundamental term is breached. 2 PART B: CAN GRACE CLAIM DAMAGES FOR: i) $25,000 spent in the leasing larger premises and placing advertisement ii) $20,000 paid to fulfil the contract with
Abacus Any breach of a contract under common law enables the innocent party to seek a legal approach to compensate the damage caused by the breach (Turner, C, Trone, J and Gamble, R 2015). By satisfied the principles applied to the damage assessment: measure of damages; proving the cause of damage is directly from the breach; proving the damage is not too remote from the breach and the duty of mitigating the loss is fulfilled, the remedy of monetary award will be placed to compensate the innocent party regaining their original position as they would be in if the contract had been performed appropriately: Robinson v Harman (1848) 154 ER 363 at 365. 2.1 Determine the cause of the damage The definition of a causation can be illustrated as “Whether a particular act or omission…can fairly and properly be considered a cause of the accident”: Fitzgerald v Penn (1945) 71 CLR 637 at 649. The source of damages originated partly decides whether the innocent party has any chance to recover the damages or not. Under the common law, Grace can claim damages for the losses it has suffered from the breach of the fundamental term, which is the guarantee from Hugh to provide the best quality fully operational machine, and this potentially include the loss caused by defective computers which Hugh ‘ought to have been aware’ however not, and eventually cost Grace $20,000 to replace. Given the consideration of "damages equivalent to the wasted expenditure which has been reasonably incurred in reliance upon the assumption that the contractual promises of the defendant would be honoured": Commonwealth v Amann Aviation Pty Ltd (1991) 174 CLR 64, 127, it is reasonable to test this case in a way of: but for the supply of defects by Hugh, Grace would not have been suffer the loss of $20,00. With the reference to the ‘but-for test’ from Alexander v Cambridge credit corp Ltd (1987) 9 NSWLR 310. 2.2 Remoteness According from Hadley v Baxendale (1854) 9 Exch 341: the loss is considered not too remote if it is reasonably foreseeable, which is the loss arise naturally from the breach or in the reasonable contemplation at the time the contract is made as the probable result of the breach. Regarding the $20,000 for the recovering of the defective computers to Abacus, it is rational to see this as a consequence arising naturally from the misconduct of the essential condition. As the matter of $25,000, which Grace spent on the leasing and advertisement, it is difficult to verify that the breach of contract is the primary reason for the loss of $25,000. In fact, it is still a question that whether the $25,000 can be categorised as a ‘loss’. In this case, without further confirmation to support the direct relationship in between $25,000 and the breach of the condition, the causation is hard to be satisfied; thus it is highly possible that the $25,000 for the leasing and advertising is unlikely to result from the breach as the damage is too remote compared to the $20,000 paid for the replacing of the defect computers as the result of the misconduct of the essential term of the contract. 2.3 Duty of mitigating the loss In order to receive compensation for the losses, evidence has to be provided by Grace that she took reasonable steps to mitigate her loss from the breach, and the $20,000 paid for the defective computers exactly represent the reasonable steps (Burns v MAN Automotive (Aust) Pty Ltd (1986) 161 CLR 653) she took to mitigate the loss from the breach. 2.4 Exclusion clauses However, the existence of the exclusion clauses might reduce the liability of Hugh’s with respect to the defective machine he supplied. The exclusion clause expressed in the similar way as in Price & Co. v. Union Lighterage Co (1903) 1 KB 750, it is plainly and unambiguously note: Hugh’s liability (however arising) … limited the payment of $50 per computer, similar to the way in. It is clear that the primary obligation has been breached by the performance, but with this exclusion clause to limit the obligation as in Darlington Futures Ltd v Delco Aust Pty Ltd (1986) 161 CLR 500: ‘any claim arising out of or in connection with the relationship established by this agreement’. With the wording of “however caused” in Pyman S.S. Co. v. Hull & Barnsley Railway Co. (1915) 2 KB 729 & Travers & Sons Ltd. v. Cooper (1915) 1 KB 73 in comparison with the phrases ‘however arising’ from the contract between Grace and Hugh, it can be concluded that the damage that Grace can claim will be limited to $50 per computer instead of $20,000 full cost as the application of exclusion clause binding with the contract.
Equuscorp launched proceedings in the Supreme Court of Victoria against each of the respondents. Equuscorp’s claims were for “loss and damage” for breach of the loan agreements and for money had and received. The trial judge dismissed Equuscorp’s contractual claim in all eight cases and upheld the restitution claim in two cases. The respondents appealed this decision in the Supreme Court of Victoria’s Court of Appeal. In this appeal, the majority held that the trial judge erred and that Equuscorp was not entitled to restitution. Equuscorp appealed against the decision of the Court of Appeal in relation to the three respondents. Its grounds for appeal included that the Court of Appeal erred in deciding: a) that Equuscorp was not entitled to restitution for the unenforceable loan agreements; b) that it was not unjust for the respondents to keep the amounts pursuant to the unenforceable loan agreements; and c) that restitution was not assigned as a right or remedy to recover the amounts under the unenforceable loan agreements.
Alfalfa, a novice rock climber, decided to go on a very difficult climb. Half way up, he found himself in trouble. Darla, a more experienced climber, at great peril to herself, rescued Alfalfa from almost certain serious injury, if not death. Alfalfa was so grateful for what Darla had done that he promised to send her a check for $1,000. Alfalfa failed to send the check and Darla sues him for breach of contract. Judgment for whom? Explain.
In my opinion, if the jury in this case subtracted the contractual claims against the profits, they would have arrived at different damage/entitlement amounts. My guess is Main Line would have been entitled to much less than what was awarded in this case.
Jones was party to the contract and mortgage together with Mrs Jones as surety for her husband, even though Mrs Jones was the actual owner of the property. This produced a legal consequence as it affected the appellants with a conduct on the part of the husband in relation to his wife which raised equities in her favour against the indication of a mortgage. The husband exercised undue influence on Mrs Jones to procure her signature to the mortgage which consisted of no consideration. The plaintiff brought proceedings against the defendant upon a contract to pay interest and principal contained in the mortgage over the property at Walkerville owned by Mrs Jones. It was understood that Mrs Jones executed the mortgage without understanding the effect of the contract and presumed various false misrepresentations. She argued that the mortgage which she s...
In the case of Darlington Futures Ltd v Delco Australia Pty Ltd (1986), the High Court ruled that: The interpretation of an exclusion clause is to be determined by construing the clause according to its natural and ordinary meaning, read in light of the contract as a whole, thereby giving due weight to the context in which the clause appeared including the nature and object of the contract… This brings to question whether ‘loss or theft’ covers the severe water damage to Kati’s car. In the case of Thornton v Shoe Lane Parking (1971), Denning MR found that if there is an offer communicated through a sign of notice at the entry of a carpark, this offer is accepted by a customer by the ‘movement of his car’ through the entrance . By this
a time or event when performance must be made, terms and conditions for performance, 5. performance, if the contract is (unilateral).” (Contract Law & Legal Definition 2016) http://definitions.uslegal.com/c/contract-law/
In August 2008, NFM sent the McCaulleys another invoice of $14,550 and told them that NFM did not have to honor the agreement, because of the pricing error and a provision concerning this error printed in the back of the invoices the McCaulleys received. NFM eventually refunded the deposit to the McCaulleys’ credit card without informing them. On September 26th 2008, the McCaulleys filed a complained to seek declaratory relief and damages on the basis that NFM breached the sales contract. On October 24th 2008, NFM answered that the pricing error clause on the invoices invalidated the complaint and the fact that Richard and Michelle took no action to retender the deposit led to the rescission of the contract. In April 27th 2012, the district court ruled in favor of NFM. The McCaulleys appealed, alleging that there were several errors in the trial court’s judgment regarding the terms and conditions in the parties’ sales contract.
Having evaluated the current state of English contract law, mainly made up of piecemeal solutions, it can be seen that despite being satisfactory and doing its job, there still remain gaps within the law of contract where unfairness is not dealt with. Moreover, due to the ad hoc nature of those piecemeal solutions, the latter have often produced inconsistent justice and have manifested cases of unfairness. Hence, “a relatively small number of respected Justices have endeavored to draw attention to the fact that the application of a general principle might be useful and even necessary in English law.”
...clauses must pass the test for reasonableness. In Smith v Eric Bush [1989] (1990 AC 831), a surveyor sought to exclude liability for negligent misstatement when completing mortgage valuations. The disclaimer excluded liability to any third party relying on their advice. it was decided that there was no contractual agreement between the plaintiff and defendant and it did not prevent any duty of care arising. It was subject to s2(2) of UCTA and was found to be unreasonable. As this case is so similar to that of Brad and Chardonnay, one could only assume that the same verdict would be made towards Briks & Mortimer Chartered Surveyors’ exclusion clause.
Contractual agreement has always been viewed in terms of offer and acceptance. The universal principle to contract law has always been parties may get into an agreement in whichever way they deem fit and they are subject to certain terms as they choose. As far as legal requirements vital to their formation are binding contracts may be formed. Moreover a binding agreement may be manifested in terms of writing or in verbal form.
Each clause in the contract will address a specific component related to the overall subject matter of the agreement. The role is to clearly define the duties, rights and privileges that each party has under the contract terms and conditions. Two examples of clauses are Time of Performance Clause and Arbitration Clause. Time of Performance Clauses designate time frames when contract duties have to be met. This contract relies on an action being performed within a specific period of time When time is of a factor and limited, a breach of contract can’t occur if the duties are not performed within a reasonable amount of time. This is only applicable if this clause is stated in the contract. An Arbitration Clause simply states that in case any legal differences or disputes between parties do happen, they must be resolved through arbitration in place of
The first category of entrant is that of a contractual entrant. This class of entrant is defined by McMahon and Binchy as someone who enters “premises in pursuance of a contract between himself or herself and the occupier” . The classic examples of this category include sports spectators and concert goers. The duty owed to this type of entrant was found in the terms of the contract. If no such terms existed, as stated in the Law Reform Commission, “there is an implied term on the part of the occupier that he has taken reasonable care to make the premises safe for the contemplated purposes” . An example of implying terms can be found in the case of Callaghan v Killarney Race Course . The case centred around an injury suffered by a spectator at the races and whether the occupiers had acted with reasonable care. Maguire CJ noted that “There were no terms of contract between him and the defendant Company and the contract between them is to be implied from the circumstances of the case.” The Supreme Court dismissed the case as it was felt...
Breach of a contract – failure or refuse to perform than the contract has been breach than the other party has the right to terminate the contract.
A contract is an agreement between two parties in which one party agrees to perform some actions in return of some consideration. These promises are legally binding. The contract can be for exchange of goods, services, property and so on. A contract can be oral as well as written and also it can be part oral and part written but it is useful to have written contract otherwise issues can be created in future. But both the written as well as oral contract is legally enforceable. Also if there is a breach of contract, there are certain remedies for that which are discussed later in the assignment. There are certain elements which need to be present in a contract. These elements are discussed in the detail in the assignment. (Clarke,
We often dream of owning the best computers in the world. However, various options from the wide range of manufacturers tend to make it difficult to do a selection. Therefore, picking a reliable model that is stupendous is inevitable; a computer that even after four years, it will still be outstanding. Knowing the chances of its success is fundamental. This means that a good machine should break less often. Additionally, a company that has a great technical support, which helps a computer owner to receive timely and reliable customer support services. What is ignored are the outliers. There are companies that have had awful record of accomplishment of crappy and extremely expensive computers. One must ensure they purchase from established and genuine dealers.