Contract Law Assignment: Advice for Astrid and ABC Windows Pty Ltd

This report presents a comprehensive analysis of a contract law case involving Astrid and ABC Windows Pty Ltd. The assignment focuses on providing legal advice to Astrid regarding a breach of contract. The report identifies the legal issues raised, including the breach of contract due to additional charges and delays in window installation. It applies relevant laws, such as the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) and the Australian Consumer Law, to the facts of the case, and utilizes the HIRAC methodology to structure the legal arguments. The report explores potential remedies for Astrid, including claiming compensation for late delivery fees, and the deterioration of the orchard. Relevant case laws such as Masters v Cameron and Empirnall Holdings Pty Ltd v Machon Paull Partners Pty Ltd are also mentioned. The report concludes with an analysis of Astrid's legal position, offering insights into the legal options available to her, and the potential outcomes of her claim. The report aims to demonstrate a clear understanding of contract law principles, and the ability to apply them to a specific factual scenario.

Contract Law
Page 1

Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
Identification of Any Contract...................................................................................................3
Identifying the Legal Issues Raised by the Problem..................................................................4
Application of Laws to Deal with Uncertainty..........................................................................5
Approach of HIRAC Methodology............................................................................................6
Heading..................................................................................................................................6
Issue........................................................................................................................................6
Rule........................................................................................................................................7
Application.............................................................................................................................8
Conclusion..............................................................................................................................9
Conclusion................................................................................................................................10
References................................................................................................................................11
Page 2

Introduction
Contract law is applicable when an agreement between the two parties that binds their
individual actions is formed on a legal basis. This agreement involves a written agreement of
the two parties on being responsible for any loss or any charges caused due to a breach of
contract based on the terms, conditions, and rules of a contract. Contract law is identified for
being present under the common systems of law in Australia1. This assignment aims to
portray an advice provided to Astrid due to the occurrence of an unexpected turn of the event
with Brittany along with the case of installing windows. Providing an advice to Astrid would
be addressed with the use of contract laws along with its legal norms, which would be best,
suited for the case scenario of Astrid. This is also appropriate for another external contract
making party identified as ABC Windows Pty Ltd. Before initiating these steps legally, some
critical requirements must be identified. One of these is to determine whether any contract or
any sort of written agreement was agreed between the two parties.
Identification of Any Contract
A contract between the two parties i.e. Astrid (customer) along with ABC Company exists, as
an oral agreement between on installing window, glasses have been taken. Focusing on this
agreement, different contract clauses have also been set on the basis of relating to the services
provided by the ABC Company to Astrid. Another clause identified within the contract
includes the agreement on a final price of $15,000 set between them. This further includes
conducting operations within the stated time and holding of pricing power by the company in
the future in case of any demand on additional services or if the product’s price would
increase in the market. It is observed that the form of contract between the parties is
identified for being an express contract. This is due to the fact that the agreement between
them has been made in a written form in terms of installation of the new window. Another
1 BPP Learning Media Ltd, ‘Fundamentals of Business Law’ (2012) CPA 10.
Page 3

clause involves a deposit payment of $1,500 deposit when the contract would be confirmed.
Besides, another contract sent by Astrid is identified for being simple, as consideration on the
agreement by the ABC Company about this contact is unidentified. Besides, a clause has
been mailed by Astrid to ABC Company, which includes a statement of charging a cost of
$30 per day in case if the overall period of installing the windows is exceeded by ABC or its
staff (Bernie)2.
The request has been made by Astrid to ABC Company on providing a well-quoted
agreement for the purchase and installation of the new window glass. In addition, the need for
at least a benefitting service, Astrid e-mails ABC Company to consider the requested changes
under the agreed contract. Thereafter, the company confirms the amendment requested from
Astrid and then makes a decision on carrying the contract operations forward by assigning a
representative to monitor the area, where the installation of the window would take place.
Identifying the Legal Issues Raised by the Problem
The legal issue, which can be identified under the current case scenario, is the breach of
agreement in many cases. Under this case scenario, is has been observed that the ABC
Company has violated the contract agreement by increasing an extra charge for installing the
new window. The additional cost of $16 has been issued as an invoice charge, but under the
contract deal, the agreed cost on installation charges along with the service charges amounted
to a total of $500. Under the legal terms, it can further be observed that the agreement
between Astrid and ABC Company was a pre-prepared contract. This is because the norms as
well as the conditions of the agreement were set in advance between them. This type of
written agreement follows a standard, thus in this case, the presence of a standard form of
financial agreement has been observed between the two parties. However, this standard of
agreement followed in this case portrays that the action undertaken by the ABC Company is
2 Nicole Adam, ‘Topic 2 – The Law of Contract: Offer and Acceptance’ (2017) I 1.
Page 4

unfair, even though it offered financial agreement to Astrid. Action on creating an additional
cost of $16 is observed to be an unfair and opposing act for Astrid. Thus, the presence of two
parties opposing changes makes it evident that the legal issue exists between the financial
agreements set for installing windows for Astrid. In addition, the presence of consideration,
an offer, and acceptance have been observed in the legal case of Astrid and ABC Company3.
Application of Laws to Deal with Uncertainty
Thus, as per the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth), a contracting party is referred to as a
corporation4. A decision to terminate the contract arises due to the act of breaching the terms
along with the conditions of the contract makes a contracting party eligible to terminate the
agreed contract with the other party5. This is identified to be a problematic act due to unfair
treatment from the ABC Company and its representative (Brittany) to the customer i.e.
Astrid. The unfair treatment in this case scenario is observed to be unreported additional
charges on different services, which are not stated under the clause of the agreement between
Astrid and ABC Company. On dealing with this problem, Astrid can legally claim benefit
rights such as expenses incurred by him as well as extra charges imposed by the company
along with its representative i.e. Brittany6. The application of Australian Consumer Law
(ACL) can ensure benefits to be enjoyed by Astrid on the basis of the legal norms under this
legal act7.
3 SBDC, ‘Contracts and agreements’ (Understanding business contracts, 2019)
<https://www.smallbusiness.wa.gov.au/business-advice/legal-essentials/contracts-and-agreements#verbal>
accessed 31 March 2019
4 Corporations Act 2001 (Cth)
5 AGS, ‘Termination of Commonwealth contracts’ (2018) CN 2.
6 CA, ‘AGS, ‘Termination of commonwealth contracts’ (2015) ACL 5.
7 Australian Consumer Law (ACL)
Page 5

Approach of HIRAC Methodology
Heading, Issue, Rule, Application, and Conclusion is recognized as the HIRAC approach.
This approach is favourable for the legal parties or a victim towards forming legal reasoning
against the opposing party. This is mainly done through the application of rightful legal laws
associated with the representing country8.
Heading
A contract issue is a common problem faced by different corporations in Australia. The
outcome on most of these cases has resulted in the termination of the contract by the
victimised party. Similarly, this case law involves two parties, where one of them is identified
as a customer and the other is known as a supplier or a company. Thus, with respect to this
case scenario, the customer is identified as Astrid and the supplier is ABC Company. Advice
will further be provided to Astrid for the purpose of attaining any possible benefits such as
compensation through the application of legal corporation acts, cases, and legislation.
Issue
A major legal issue, which is identified, is that a prepared contract existing between two
parties resulted in an unexpected event. A major reason for the emergence of this particular
situation (contract termination by Astrid) has been due to the breach of contract by ABC
Company. The company has not been able to initiate the process of installing the windows
within the agreed time of 2 months starting from the day of the agreement. In addition,
Brittany (employee) of ABC Company was sent by them to monitor the area of installation
and informing Astrid about the confirmed date of 29th May in the year 2018 due to delay in
operations because of climatic conditions. However, Brittany is uninformed or unknown
about the contract agreement between Astrid and ABC Company. Either case can be a
8 Nick James, ‘Good Practice Guide (Bachelor of Laws), ‘THINKING SKILLS (Threshold Learning Outcome
3)’ (2015) ALTC 3.
Page 6

display of negligence of the legal contract agreement that has been made by the two parties.
Either of these two possible cases, the responsibility of breaching the contract is to be blamed
directly upon ABC Company. Relaying a message of paying the additional cost for installing
the window, Astrid then thinks about terminating the contract with ABC Company with rage.
Thus, for dealing with this issue of a dilemma, advice will be provided to Astrid through the
application of different legislation, acts as well as the cases in order to meet the outcome,
which will be favourable for Astrid.
Rule
The most effective legislation used by the corporations or by any consumer to attain benefits
such as compensation from a contract due to the unfair action of the opposing party is the
Corporations Act 2001 (Cth). Thus, the application of Australian Consumer Law is also
identified to be effective for the customers to claim benefits or compensation due to their act
of contract termination due to unfair act or violation of agreement terms and conditioned by
the supplier or a company9. These two legal acts can help Astrid to take legal steps, which
could be benefitting rather than terminating the whole contract. The best possible advice will
be to claim compensation on extending the operating date of 29th May 2018, in which the two
parties agreed to initiate window installation until the month of April. After waiting for more
than 2 months, by this time the orchard’s quality has deteriorated drastically along with
claiming compensation on fixing the quality due to the act of the ABC Company. This is also
possible by approaching the Australian Consumer Law. As a customer, Astrid will be
guaranteed to attain several benefits due to the act of contract breach by ABC company10.
Some of the cases, which have favoured the customer’s due to unfair act of the suppliers or a
group of higher representatives can be cited from the case of Masters v Cameron (1954) 91
9 CBS, ‘Unfair contract terms, ‘A Guide for Businesses and Legal Practitioners’ (2016) ACL 5.
10 NETK, ‘Networked Knowledge - Contract Law Casenotes, ‘ (Empirnall Holdings Pty Ltd v Machon Paull
Partners Pty Ltd (1988) 14 NSWLR 523, Court of Appeal Supreme Ct NSW, n.d.)
<http://netk.net.au/Contract/Empirnall.asp> accessed 31 March 2019.
Page 7

CLR 353 and a case of Empirnall Holdings Pty Ltd v Machon Paull Partners Pty Ltd (1988)
14 NSWLR 5231112.
Application
The implementation of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) along with the Australian Consumer
Law will further enable Astrid to claim compensation based on the agreed contract with ABC
Company. Claiming fee charges for late start of the installation by ABC Company for
extending operations to 1st May and beyond dates will be made possible when focusing on
clause 2 of the agreed contract. Estimating the charges on the basis of each day at a fee of
$30, Astrid will be legally eligible to claim the total minimum late delivery fee of $870
exceeding the month of April was 29. Astrid will also be eligible for claiming compensation
from the company for being responsible towards degrading the quality of the Orchard due to
extension along with the delay of the window installation operations.
The section 13 of the Insurance Contracts Act 1984 portrays that “the duty of good faith is
now an implied statutory term inserted into every general insurance contract in Australia
under section 13 of the Insurance Contracts Act 1984. Section 13 requires both the insurer
and the insured to act towards the other, in respect of any matter arising under or in relation
to it, with the utmost good faith. Therefore, like the common law, the duty spans from the pre-
contractual stage (duty of disclosure) to the post-contractual stage (the making and handling
of claims). In addition, being a contractual term, damages are allowed to the innocent party
in case of a breach”13. In addition, with the application of the two contact-based acts, the
above quote also highlights that even s13 Insurance Contracts Act 1984 is equally effective.
This is because it has been regulated by the national authority in order to secure benefits for
11 ACCC, ‘Compensation for damages & loss, ‘ (Consumer rights & guarantees, n.d.)
<https://www.accc.gov.au/consumers/consumer-rights-guarantees/compensation-for-damages-loss#making-a-
claim-for-compensation accessed> 31 March 2019.
12 NETK, ‘Networked Knowledge - Contract Law Casenotes, ‘ (Masters v Cameron (1954) 91 CLR 353, High
Court of Australia, n.d.) <http://netk.net.au/contract/masters.asp> accessed 31 March 2019.
13 UI, ‘Regulations and obligations, ‘Utmost Good Faith’ (2019) NIBA 1.
Page 8

the victims of unfair agreements or breach of action by their contract party14. A compensation
is generated for these sufferers even if they are identified to experience a major loss of health
or the quality of land due to the unfair act committed by another contracting party1516.
Conclusion
Based on the understanding of the obligations and allowances set under the terms along with
conditions of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth), Australian Consumer Law, and the Insurance
Contracts Act 1984, Astrid is eligible to claim compensation for loss faced due to their unfair
act. It actually indicates that rather than terminating the whole contract agreement with the
ABC Company, Astrid holds every legal right to receive a total sum of $870, in addition to
the other estimated cost required to aid the deteriorated quality of the Orchard. Since there are
clauses stated under the agreement between Astrid as well as ABC Company, it is highly
recommended to receive financial support through the legal approach. Furthermore, Astrid
can legally refrain Brittany for making claims on paying a higher price for initiating the
window installation operations in the Orchard. Since there are other clauses in favour of the
ABC Company, breaching the terms and condition stated in the contract agreement through
an unfair action makes them ineligible to attain the benefits.
14 AG, ‘Review of the Insurance contracts act, ‘(Home, n.d.)
<http://icareview.treasury.gov.au/content/default.asp> accessed 31 March 2019.
15 s13 Insurance Contracts Act 1984
16 Commonwealth of Australia, ‘The Australian Consumer Law, ‘A framework overview’ (2019) ACL 3.
Page 9

Conclusion
Analyzing the legal issue of the contract agreement between Astrid and ABC Company on
price charges for installing window along with the service charges, the legal regulations and
norms under the contract law has to be followed. The use of legal acts makes it evident that
Astrid is eligible as well as capable to claim certain charges as stated under the clause of the
contract agreement. Therefore, rather than paying any further charges to the company, Astrid
must approach legal contract laws on claiming financial charges from the ABC Company.
Page
10

References
ACCC, ‘Compensation for damages & loss, ‘ (Consumer rights & guarantees, n.d.)
<https://www.accc.gov.au/consumers/consumer-rights-guarantees/compensation-for-
damages-loss#making-a-claim-for-compensation> accessed 31 March 2019.
ACCC, ‘Compensation for damages & loss, ‘(Consumer rights & guarantees, n.d.)
<https://www.accc.gov.au/consumers/consumer-rights-guarantees/compensation-for-
damages-loss#making-a-claim-for-compensation> accessed 31 March 2019.
AG, ‘Review of the Insurance contracts act, ‘(Home, n.d.)
<http://icareview.treasury.gov.au/content/default.asp> accessed 31 March 2019.
AGS, ‘Termination of Commonwealth contracts’ (2018) CN 2.
AustLii, ‘Networked Knowledge - Contract Law Casenotes, ‘ (Corporations Act 2001, n.d.)
<http://www5.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/consol_act/ca2001172/> accessed 31 March 2019.
Australian Consumer Law (ACL).
BPP Learning Media Ltd, ‘Fundamentals of Business Law’ (2012) CPA 10.
CA, ‘AGS, ‘Termination of commonwealth contracts’ (2015) ACL 5.
CBS, ‘Unfair contract terms, ‘A Guide for Businesses and Legal Practitioners’ (2016) ACL 5.
CBS, ‘Unfair contract terms, ‘A Guide for Businesses and Legal Practitioners’ (2016) ACL 5.
Commonwealth of Australia, ‘The Australian Consumer Law, ‘A framework overview’
(2019) ACL 3.
Corporations Act 2001 (Cth)
Empirnall Holdings Pty Ltd v Machon Paull Partners Pty Ltd (1988) 14 NSWLR 523.
Page
11

Masters v Cameron (1954) 91 CLR 353.
NETK, ‘Commonwealth Consolidated Acts, ‘ (Masters v Cameron (1954) 91 CLR 353, High
Court of Australia, n.d.) <http://netk.net.au/contract/masters.asp> accessed 31 March 2019.
NETK, ‘Networked Knowledge - Contract Law Casenotes, ‘ (Empirnall Holdings Pty Ltd v
Machon Paull Partners Pty Ltd (1988) 14 NSWLR 523, Court of Appeal Supreme Ct NSW,
n.d.) <http://netk.net.au/Contract/Empirnall.asp> accessed 31 March 2019.
Nick James, ‘Good Practice Guide (Bachelor of Laws), ‘THINKING SKILLS (Threshold
Learning Outcome 3)’ (2015) ALTC 3.
Nicole Adam, ‘Topic 2 – The Law of Contract: Offer and Acceptance’ (2017) I 1.
s13 Insurance Contracts Act 1984
SBDC, ‘Contracts and agreements’ (Understanding business contracts, 2019)
<https://www.smallbusiness.wa.gov.au/business-advice/legal-essentials/contracts-and-
agreements#verbal> accessed 31 March 2019.
UI, ‘Regulations and obligations, ‘Utmost Good Faith’ (2019) NIBA 1.
Page
12