PDF Business Laws - Sample Assignment

Running head: BUSINESS LAW
Business law
Name of the student
Name of the University
Author Note

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BUSINESS LAW
Case name: Ford & Anor v La Forrest & Ors [2001] QSC 261
a. Case introduction: The case deals with whether the parties in the contract are legally bound
by the email that they have exchanged and whether there existed a contract that bound them. The
case deals with unequivocal acceptance of contract and also compromise and settlement which
the court tried to understand by the offer of settlement that was in place between the parties.
b. Facts of the case: Adele Morrow sued the applicants in the present case sued the applicants
Conrad International Hotel and also along with the hotel, John Ford, Detectives Sergeant, the
State of Queenland and also the District court for the personal injuries that Adele has sustained.
The suit was unsuccessful and as a result Adele filed a Notice of Appeal in the Court of Appeal.
In the dismissal of the suit, the Judge Forde have a detailed and long explanation as to why the
suit was dismissed (Jiang et al 2016). The matters in concern were many and it also included the
contents of the appeal book. While the matter was going on the solicitors for the Hotel wrote a
notice to Adele asking her to settle the matter. The letter of the solicitor aimed at solving the
dispute because both the parties were bearing insurmountable income and the expenses were
recurring without any benefit to the parties. Therefore to avoid any further expenses, the
solicitors asked Adele to end the dispute so that there is no further expense borne by the parties.
Therefore, to end the expenses, the solicitors made an offer to amicably settle the matter and the
offer was commercial in nature whereby the parties were ready to settle the same without
admitting any liability. Speaking for the hotel and the first and second respondents, the solicitor
claimed that they shall be bearing their own expenses and also pay for the cost of the action,
inclusive of the costs of the trial that has been incurred to the present date. The condition for
bearing the costs by the respondent was that the appeal shall be discontinued and that Adele will
not continue with her suit and will also sign a Discharge to the effect. The solicitor gave a

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BUSINESS LAW
precondition that if Adele does not sign the discharge to that effect, the parties shall continue
with the suit and shall also not make any further offer of settlement. Adele was given only a time
span of 7 days and if within that time of 7 days Adele does not accept the offer of settlement and
reject the offer, The Conrad Hotel and the first and second shall continue with the defense and
also vigorously fight it in the court. The respondents will recover all the costs that is due from
Adele and also the costs of the trial that is going on. A similar offer of settlement was received
from the solicitors who are working for the State Government. The offer of settlement was of
similar nature which stated that the State of Queensland, Detective Sergeants are prepared to
settle amicably on the condition that each party shall walk with their own costs. Therefore, by
implication, the offer of settlement meant that Adele shall discontinue the Appeal with respect to
the ongoing matter and shall also bear the costs of the first Instance along with the costs of the
Appeal. The costs shall be borne up to date. All the parties involved in the suits shall discontinue
and they shall bear their own costs in respect to matter of both the first instance and the appeal.
The offer also had a deadline, that is, the offer would have expired after 4 pm on the 2nd of March
2001. The offer was clear from ambiguities and had clearly mentioned the terms of the
settlement (Arthur 2018).
After receiving the offer, Adele sent a counter offer by letter stating that she is willing to
settle the matter after a payment of $50,000 is advanced and that shall be the final amount of the
settlement. The letter by Adele was sent on 26th February and on the 27th February, Ms Morrow
sent another letter stating that the offer was a once only offer which was subsequently rejected by
Solicitor Crown. On 1st March the offer of settlement by the parties was already in the open and
the parties were aware of the existing contract. Referring to the offers made on 22nd February
and 26th February, Adele communicated with both Quinlan Miller and Treston and also with the