1) A truck is travelling from Queensland with a load of bananas which are destined to be sold in Melbourne. The trucking company does not own the bananas and is delivering the load on behalf of a fruit retailer based in Melbourne.

Due to unexpected flooding near the Queensland border, the truck is unable to move interstate; in fact it looks like it will be two weeks before the truck can move. The driver is very concerned about the load since the truck is not refrigerated the bananas will begin to rot and the fruit will become unsaleable. Further, the truck may need special cleaning because of the potential mess from the rotting fruit.

The driver cannot contact either his head office or the retailer who owns the fruit since the mobile phone towers have been affected by the flooding.

REQUIRED

If the driver has an opportunity to sell the fruit, could he legally approach with the opportunity of selling as an agent of the fruit retailer?

2) Jim lives in a remote country area where the roads are basically dirt tracks to various properties. The local authority announces that they are upgrading a number of roads with a bitumen surface; one of the designated roads is the one that runs past Jim's property. The roadwork is due to commence in four weeks' time and will take two months to complete. A message is sent to the various householders in the area announcing the program.

Jim is absolutely delighted since he has to drive a heavy-duty vehicle on the rough roads, which is an expensive way of getting around. Jim, on the basis of the authorities' notice of new roads, purchases a new car which can only be used on sealed roads and not on rough gravel roads.

The local authority then announces that due to government funding cuts, the roads program has been postponed indefinitely; there will be no new roads as announced previously. Jim is very upset, he has a new car that he cannot use, he was induced to believe that the roads program would take place and has now borrowed quite a bit of money on the basis of the announcement from the authority.

REQUIRED

Can Jim sue the authority under contract law for the announcements they made, and for his subsequent borrowing and expenditure because of the inducements made by the authority?