LC21220 / LC31220 Business Law Assignment

LC21220 / LC31220 Business Law Assignment

LC21220 / LC31220 Business Law Assignment

Written Assignment

This assignment forms one third of the assessment for this module.

Your assignment must be handed in via TurnItIn by 2.30pm on Wednesday 9^th December 2020. Any work submitted after the deadline will be awarded a mark of zero.

The overall word limit for the assignment is 1500 words.  There is no 10% leeway on the maximum word count.  For further information please refer to

https://blackboard.aber.ac.uk/webapps/blackboard/execute/displayIndividualContent?mode=view&content_id=_1113651_1&course_id=_6638_1

You must declare your word count at the end of your essay.

Please list in a bibliography at the end of the essay the main sources (books and other materials) consulted in writing your essay. Any quotations should be accompanied by a full reference with page numbers.  Please use OSCOLA referencing conventions (https://www.law.ox.ac.uk/sites/files/oxlaw/oscola_4th_edn_hart_2012quickreferenceguide.pdf) .  Footnotes for referencing purposes will not count towards the word limit

Assignment Topic

The scenario involves three friends and business associates: Emma, Jen and Rhys.

In June, Rhys decided to build an extension on his property.  The work necessitated the digging of a trench, part of which extended to an adjacent public footpath.  Rhys had placed a traffic cone at the front and rear of the hole in an attempt to prevent accidents.  Unfortunately, one night when Jen was walking down the footpath with her girlfriend, Clare, she stumbled into the hole and broke her arm.  Jen was unable to work for six weeks following the accident and seeing Jen’s broken arm caused Clare great distress.

On 4^th July, Emma placed an advertisement on her local Facebook marketplace for her car.  She stated that she was open to sensible offers. Later that evening, Emma remembered that Jen needed a replacement car and sent her a text stating that she may be prepared to sell her the vehicle for around £2,000.  Jen saw the text and replied just before bedtime stating that she accepted the offer and could afford £500 this week and would pay the balance of £1,500 next week after she had been paid her wages.  However, Emma’s phone had run out of charge and she did not see the message until the following day after lunch.  In the meantime, Emma’s neighbour, Rhys, had seen the advertisement and offered to give Emma a cheque for £1,800 if he could take the car away immediately.

Rhys had agreed to carry out work re-decorating Emma’s company offices.  Emma had stipulated that the work must be completed by 20th July because she was holding a reception for potential investors at the offices on the 22^nd.  Rhys had agreed to carry out the work for £1000.  By 15^th July there was still substantial painting to be completed because Rhys had spent several days, when he could have been painting the offices, with his new girlfriend, driving around the countryside in his new car. When Emma reminded him about the timescale for completion Rhys said that he would have to reschedule other projects and for the work to be completed by 20^th Emma would now have to pay him an additional £500.  Emma reluctantly agreed to pay the extra money because she could not risk cancelling the investors event. 

Rhys carried out the decorating work by the 20^th but the paint did not have sufficient time to dry and the several of the attendees at Emma’s investors event got paint in their clothes. 

The three friends clearly have some issues to resolve!

Jen and Clare believe that Rhys should pay them compensation for the injury and distress caused.

Jen is arguing that Emma’s car is now hers because she had accepted Emma’s offer.

Emma is refusing to pay Rhys the extra £500 and thinks that he should pay for the investors damaged clothes.

• Your first task is to identify the legal issues raised by the facts.  You should also identify the actions (if any) potentially available to each party based on the facts.

• In relation to each issue identified, you need to advise the parties as to the most appropriate method(s) available for settling the dispute in question.

• You must also advise each party on the possible legal arguments available to them if they choose to go to court.   In this advice you should make reference to appropriate case law authority and any other material which you may feel is relevant.