Management Law Assignment: Case Studies on Contract & Consumer Law

This management law assignment presents solutions to four case studies, covering key areas of contract law, consumer law, and tort law. The first case analyzes the validity of an agreement under duress, examining the concept of free consent. The second case explores promissory estoppel in a car sale dispute, determining whether a party is bound by a promise. The third case addresses negligence, evaluating a chef's liability for serving contaminated food and considering potential defenses. The final case investigates misleading or deceptive advertising under the Australian Consumer Law, assessing the rights of a consumer who received a product different from the advertisement. The assignment demonstrates an understanding of relevant legal principles and their application to real-world scenarios, supported by references to legal precedents and legislation.

Running head: MANAGEMENT LAW
Management law
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
Author note

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Answer to question no. 1
Issue:
The issue of the case is to analyse whether the agreement signed between Tom and
Susan was valid in nature or not. It has been observed in the case that prior to the marriage,
Tom asked Susan to sign a document and the same contained certain terms and Susan put her
signature on the document. The conditions of the agreement were that if the marriage
between the two has broken, Susan will get only $100.000. After five years of happy conjugal
life when the marriage was dissolved, Susan get the contracted money only and her husband
denied to give her other allowances.
Rule:
The main theme of the case has concerned the prerequisite of duress (Feldman
2015). It is a provision under the contract law that states the grounds of cancellation of the
enforceability of contractual compulsions. It is a sort of protection to the contracting party
who has been forced to give his consent over certain agreements. When a person forced to
sign a contract because the other party to the contract have threatened him to sign the same,
the legality of the agreement becomes unenforceable (Tamblyn 2017). Necessary provisions
regarding duress has been engraved under Section 50 of the Australian Consumer Act. The
term duress is applicable when one party to a contract signed an agreement forcefully and the
other party had generated threat. It has been observed in Barton v Armstrong [1973] UKPC
27 that Alexander had threatened Barton to kill him if he had not paid a certain amount of
money. Privy Council cancelled the validity of the contract on the ground of duress. In
Skeate v Beale [1840] 11 Ad & El 983, it was observed that the tenant became agree with the
repayment when the property owner threatened to sell all his goods (Fried 2015).

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Application:
In the given case study, it has been observed that Tom had threatened Susan that
if she did not give her consent over the agreement, he will not marry her. Therefore, it is
observed that it attracts the provision of threat, predominantly mental threat. It has been
observed that the circumstances compelled her to sign the agreement. One of the terms of the
valid contract is free consent. In this case, there was no free consent present on behalf of
Susan and she has been forced to sign the document.
Conclusion:
The agreement made between Tom and Susan will not be enforceable on the ground of
duress.
Answer to question no. 2
Issue:
The issue in the case is whether Steve is bound by law to buy the car from Jason. It has been
observed in this case that Steve was searching for a turbo engine car and Jason had installed
all the requirements of Steve and Steve told him that he would buy the car only after the
fulfilment of all the desires. It has been observed that Jason had installed all the requirements
and after this too, Steve was refused to buy the car.
Rules:
The alleged matter of the case is attracting the provision of the promissory estoppels (Lee
2015). According to this legal doctrine if a promise had been made to a person, it is not
essential that one should pursue all the formal deliberation and the promise maker has to keep
the same in case the promisee relied on the promise (Robertson 2014). Under the Australian

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Contract law, provision of promissory estoppels has been engraved. The main essential of the
doctrine are:
 A promise should have to be made by one party;
 The other party must rely on the terms of the promise;
 The outcome of such reliance shall bear detrimental effect.
The strict nature of the promissory estoppels has been observed in the case of Crabb v Arun
D.C. (1976) 1 Ch 179.
Application:
In the present case, it has been observed that Steve was looking for a car and came across the
advertisement of Jason and went to inspect the car for several times (Price 2013). It has been
observed that he made a promise to Jason that if all his desires regarding the car can be
fulfilled, he will buy the car. Relying on the facts of the case, Jason had installed the
requirements and invested certain amount of money. However, Steve, on later stage, denied
buying the car. Here the law of promissory estoppels will be applicable (Mungan and
Seidenfeld 2016).
Conclusion:
Steve is, therefore bound by law to buy the car of Jason.
Answer to question 3
Issue:
The major issues of the case are whether Carl has done any negligent work or not and
whether Harry can have any defence against Carl or not. It has been observed in this case that

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Carl is a fisherman and a sushi chef. Therefore, it is no doubt to state that he bears certain
responsibilities regarding the same and to take care of his duties with all aspects.
Rules:
The matter of the case is attracting the provision of negligence. In Australia, the term
negligence has been defined under the stipulation of Torts law. There are certain values that
will constitute the negligence. It has been mentioned under the Australian Act that if the
defendant had failed to perform his duties properly and the outcome of the same cause harm
to the other person. One of the historical case regarding the same is Donoghue v Stevenson
[1932] AC 562 where it has been proved that the manufacturer has owed certain duties to the
customer and if he failed, he will be liable for the same. The principle regarding the breach of
duties was also observed in case of Vaughan v Menlove (1837) 3 Bing. N.C. 467.
Application:
In this case, it has been stated that Carl was a chef but not skilled one. Harry was a friend of
him. Carl served a fish dish to him without followed the rules regarding the cooking of the
fish. Carl was failed to inspect the nature of the fish and he had not even clean the fish
properly. It has been observed that Harry became ill by consuming the poisonous fish.
Law that any person may sue the defendant before the competent court of jurisdiction and
claim damage regarding the same has provided it. However, law also provides certain
defences for the interest of the defendant. In this case, Harry knew the fact that Carl was not a
skilled chef and therefore, there are certain risks regarding the recipe made by him. Therefore
provision of voluntary assumption of risk can be applied to the victim. The provision
regarding the same has been engraved under section 16 and 17 of the Civil Liability Act.

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Conclusion:
It is no doubt to state that the activity of Carl has attracted the provision of the negligence,
however, he has certain defences available against the victim.
Answer to question no 4
Issue:
The main issue of the present case is to decide whether Betty accrues any right under the
Australian Consumer Law. The facts of the case depict that an advertisement was made on
behalf of Apple I-phone that consists of certain features of the phone. The features posted on
the advertisement attracted Betty and she had ordered the same. However, when she gets the
product, she observed that the quality of the same is inferior in nature to that of the
advertisement.
Rules:
There are certain necessary rules mentioned under the Australian Consumer Act regarding the
same matter and in this case the provision of misleading or deceptive advertisement will be
applied (Richards 2013). It has been mentioned under section 18 of the Consumer law that if
a person sustain certain injury regarding the deceptive advertisement, the company will be
held liable under this provision. The Australian High court has confirmed the necessity of
section 18 of ACL in Australian Competition and Consumer Commission v TPG Internet
Pty Ltd [2013] HCA 54. Certain provision of section 29 will also be applied here. The main
theme of this section is to go against the false and misleading representation made against
any goods. Provision of section 35 regarding bait advertisements will also be applied here.

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Application:
It has been observed in this case that Betty has ordered an Apple set based on an
advertisement and the set has been delivered to her. After releasing the set form the package,
Betty realised that the set is different than the advertised one and it is inferior in quality.
Therefore, Betty can claim damage under section 18 of the Australian Consumer law. It has
also been proved that a misleading representation has been made in this case. The provision
of the case is also attracts the provision of the statutory duties also and therefore, the section
56 of the Australian Consumer Law will also applicable here.
Conclusion:
Therefore, it can be stated that Betty accrues right under section 18, 29, 35 and 49 of the
Australian Consumer Law regarding the same.

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Reference:
Faerber, A.E. and Kreling, D.H., 2014. Content analysis of false and misleading claims in
television advertising for prescription and nonprescription drugs. Journal of general internal
medicine, 29(1), pp.110-118.
Feldman, S.W., 2015. Pre-Dispute Arbitration Agreements, Freedom of Contract, and the
Economic Duress Defense: A Critique of Three Commentaries. Clev. St. L. Rev., 64, p.37.
Fried, C., 2015. Contract as promise: A theory of contractual obligation. Oxford University
Press, USA.
Kim, N.S., 2014. Situational Duress and the Aberrance of Electronic Contracts. Chi.-Kent L.
Rev., 89, p.265.
Lee, R., 2015. Promissory Estoppel and Proprietary Estoppel: A Response to the Myth of a
Unifying Approach. King's Student L. Rev., 6, p.iii.
Mungan, M.C. and Seidenfeld, M., 2016. Investments to Make Threats Credible, Rent-
Seeking, and Duress. Supreme Court Economic Review, 23(1), pp.341-351.
Price, W.N., 2013. Legal implications of an ethical duty to search for genetic incidental
findings. The American Journal of Bioethics, 13(2), pp.48-49.
Richards, J., 2013. Deceptive advertising: Behavioral study of a legal concept. Routledge.
Robertson, A., 2014. Three Models of Promissory Estoppel. Browser Download This Paper.

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Tamblyn, N., 2017. The Law of Duress and Necessity: Crime, Tort, Contract. Routledge.
Velasco, J., 2014. A Defense of the Corporate Law Duty of Care.

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