Business and Corporations Law

SEMESTER 2 2019 ASSESSMENT INFORMATION Assessment 2 - Problem Solving

(Weighting Total - 20%)

Due

Monday 16 September

Length

Word Limit (1,000 words +/- 10% maximum)

FACTUAL SCENARIO

Bart owns a business for guided tours through the Australian National Park on the New South Wales - Queensland boarder called Springfield Guided Tours. The tours are two (2) days in duration and involve hiking, foraging, camping and exploration of off-track areas. Bart offers the guided tours throughout the year with tours running regardless of the weather conditions.

On 1 August 2018 Lisa and her friend, Alice, decided to book a guided tour in celebration of their 10 year friendship. The trip is scheduled for February 2019. Lisa had learnt about Springfield Guided Tours through their website. She had initially seen an advertisement for their guided tours on Facebook. The website included a link to the business's terms and conditions. Lisa decided to book over the phone rather than through the website as she had a few questions to ask Bart. After asking her questions, Lisa decided to book the tour. Fifteen minutes later she received a confirmation email which provided a further link to the terms and conditions of Springfield Guided Tours. In particular the email drew her attention to the following;

Customers participate in Springfield Guided Tours at their own risk. The business excludes any liability whether caused by breach of express or implied term, for loss suffered by customers on one of the Guided Tours.

Lisa and Alice arrived bright and early, ready to set off with Bart on 10 February 2019. On this day Bart was a bit distracted by some personal events and misread his map. This meant that by dusk the group was kilometres off course. Bart made the decision to take a short-cut to get the group back on track, however the particular short-cut Bart picked was through terrain which was well known to be treacherous and to have rockslides occur after heavy rainfall. In the previous week, there had been double the rainfall expected for February following a cyclone off the Queensland coast. Other guides in the area were avoiding going off-track following the previous week's weather.

Whilst the group were 'bush bashing' off-track, they decided to stop for lunch in a shady area protected by a cliff above. During lunch 4 large rocks fell off the cliff above them. The group quickly ran from danger however Lisa and Alice both tripped on the rough terrain and badly sprained their ankles. One of the larger rocks landed on Lisa's backpack and her expensive camera was damaged beyond repair. The group eventually made it to a nearby village several kilometres from their intended overnight camping spot (they later found out the camp was flooded). At the village, Bart informed the group that the trip has been cancelled and "this is the end of the road for this tour". Bart called a friend to pick him up and left the village, however Lisa and Alice had no option but to check-in to the local B&B to recover and rest their ankles as it was late at night. The B&B cost $150 for the night. Upon returning home, Lisa and Alice both went to see their GP as their ankles were still inflamed and sore. Alice had scans and it turned out she had a small break which would require her to take a week off work. Lisa rang Bart to complain. Bart referred Lisa to the exclusion clause quoted above and said "too bad, these things happen".

See assessment task BELOW.

ASSESSMENT TASK:

Advise Bart regarding the validity of the exclusion clause and any claims for which Springfield Guided Tours would be liable in relation to Lisa and Alice.

Tips:

In (brief) report format to Springfield Guided Tours (Bart), please:

1. Advise on a potential claim by Lisa and Alice against Springfield Guided Tours in negligence. Identify all possible negligence claims as they relate to Lisa and Alice. Specifically, you should consider all the elements required to bring a claim in negligence for injuries, loss of possessions and other additional expenses. Do not discuss any defences to a negligence claim in this part of your report.

2. Advise whether the exclusion clause negates liability.

Use case law examples where possible to support your arguments and cite relevant section(s) of any legislation used. The IRAC/ILAC approach should be applied in this report (see further advice below).

HINTS / POINTS TO NOTE:

(a) Review the 'how to answer legal questions' video in the support material for assessment 2 as well as the shorter 'how to find law' and 'referencing' videos, the PowerPoint on getting started and the IRAC/ILAC note.

(b) Read the facts carefully to identify the relevant issues (this is required as the first step of the IRAC/ILAC approach which you are required to use in answering the above questions). Remember IRAC/ILAC is a form of thinking and paragraph structure. You should not use Issue - Rule - Application - Conclusion as your headings. You are writing a brief report.

(c) Check your textbook table of contents and index (as well as the relevant pages!) for the areas of law for review purposes and potentially related cases and sections of legislation. Review the discussion during the Week 2 tort material for any potential relevance and cross referencing to the discussion in the textbook.

(d) Keep your discussion limited to the areas of exclusion clauses and tort law. Do not go into professional / disciplinary rules and procedures, trust law or employment law or other equivalent areas.

(e) Consider the validity and incorporation of the exclusion clause with reference to cases in the 'Exclusion Clauses - Limiting Liability' PowerPoint. Draw similarities/ differences between the facts in the assessment and case law.

(f) Remember to keep your discussion of law specific - do not generally state that there is an Act which dictates how certain elements of negligence should be considered. Please indicate the specific section number of the Act, if applicable. You do not need to reproduce the law found at that section unless you are discussing a key word or phrase as part of your analysis.

(g) Do not waste words restating the facts of the current facts provided or case law facts - you can assume that they are known to the reader.

(h) You should come to an overall conclusion linking back to the questions asked in the assignment task. Do not 'sit on the fence'. Hint: you could state 'in conclusion the better view is...' or 'based on the facts provided, unless.... then....'.

(i) The word limit is 1,000, plus or minus 10%. Markers will stop reading at 1,100 words. Referencing, bibliography, endnotes and footnotes are not included in the word count, however these should not include material of importance to your argument. They should be used for references and supplementary material only.

(j)Check the CRA for the marks allocationas this will give you an indication of where to focus your attention.

(k) Take the time to check your spelling, punctuation, referencing and grammar before submitting. Staff are unable to read over drafts or proof your assignment for you.

(l) Sources to support your analysis and conclusions should be primary sources (where possible). That is, legislation and case law. Journals, guidance sheets, lecture notes, PowerPoints and the textbook may contain the relevant concepts but you should cite the legislation or case the legal proposition originates.

(m) Referencing: you can use either Legal Citation (see Blackboard - Assessment - Assessment 2 - Getting Started: Some Basics) or APA Referencing (see Blackboard - Student Support Area - QUT cite | write).

(n) Remember assistance is available:

- Academic Skills Advisor and English Language Support (See Blackboard) - Library research team (See Blackboard)

- Read 'writing a report' on QUT cite | write.

FINAL CHECKLIST:

1. Please use 12 point Times New Roman font with 1.5 spacing.
2. Don't forget to do a grammar and spellcheck before submission.
3. All On-campus, Online and External Students must submit their assignment via the
4. Assessment Folder - Assignment 2 - Submission Link (Turnitin). You will receive a receipt
5. upon submission. Please keep this until the assignments are returned.
6. Do a final read of all instructions prior to submission and after submission to 'double-check'.
7. You have until 11:59pm on Monday 16thSeptember 2019 to submit your assignment.
8. HOWEVER, it is recommended you aim for earlier in case of any technical glitches. HiQ is not available after-hours to assist.