Hi, please help me with this question. Who can sue whom (using contract law and australia consumer law). Thank you.

Mr Ellis lives in rural Victoria. His property is off the electricity grid and has no independent source of

power. On 22 October 2012, he signed a purchase agreement with Bailey Engineering Pty Ltd for a

3.6kW hybrid power system. The model of the system was Firefly CYGNUS 3.6. He dealt with Mr Bailey,

director of the company. The purpose of the system he purchased was to provide power through the

combination of a wind turbine and solar panels. The purchase price of $19,800 included full installation.

Mr Ellis paid a deposit of $11,900. The balance of $7,900 was to be paid when the installation completed

and the system generated power as intended. Mr Ellis is a farmer and that was the first time he bought a

hybrid power system.

In the meeting on 20 October 2012, Mr Ellis told Mr Bailey that the batteries must be made in Germany

and the system must be able to charge up to and maintain at least at 220voltage. Mr Bailey assured that "Yes,

sure. We are producing and selling the best hybrid power systems in Australia. The batteries installed in the

Firefly CYGNUS 3.6 system are made by Bosch Germany. The system is able to charge up to and maintain at

least at 220voltage". During that meeting, Mr Bailey also stated that "if you buy the system, the company will

provide you with ten Philip Energy Efficient Light Bulbs". Mr Ellis responded that "Wonderful. It means I

can save a lot of energy". The written contract between the parties only mentioned the parties' names, the

model, the price, and the payment method.

The footnote number five in the agreement contained a clause stating that "The batteries installed in the system

are supplied by Bosch Germany. Thus, Bailey Engineering Pty Ltd will not be responsible for their

functioning as well as any damage caused by them". Since Mr Ellis did not read the footnotes in the

agreement, he was not aware of that clause when he signed the agreement. One day before the meeting to

sign the contract, Mr Ellis recetved an email from Mr Bailey. The email was entitled "Advice on

Maintenance". Apart from the detailed information regarding the way the system should be maintained, the

last lines of the email also stated that "The batteries installed in the system are supplied by Bosch Germany.

Thus, Bailey Engineering Pty Ltd will not be responsible for their functioning as well as any damage caused

by them". Mr Ellis opened the email but read it in hurry and thus missed the statement in the last lines of the

email. The receipt of the deposit also contained the same statement. However, it was not clear whether Mr

Ellis checked the receipt or not.

The hybrid power system was installed at Mr Ellis's property by Bailey Engineering staff on 23 October 2012.

No Energy Efficient Light Bulbs were provided to Mr Ellis. To reduce costs, Bailey Engineering used

the batteries made in China by Amperex Technology to install in the system for Mr Ellis. When Bailey

Engineering staff finished the installation, they turned the system on and left the property. The system ran

for a couple of hours and then turned off by itself. Mr Ellis tried to restart the system many times but the

problem persisted. During the time the system appeared running, it did not generate any power.

On 25 October 2012, Mr Ellis called Bailey Engineering to report the problem. Bailey Engineering staff came

and discovered that the batteries malfunctioned and did not charge sufficiently to generate power. Specifically,

it was a 220voltage system, if the battery charge dropped to 200voltage it would shut off. After being informed

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of the problem and its cause, Mr Bailey called Mr Ellis and told him that "if you pay extra $5000, we will

change the batteries and make the system work for you". Mr Ellis was in need of power and thus he agreed to

that requirement.

Since it was a very cold winter and Mr Ellis urgently needed power to run the heaters, on 27 October 2012 he

went to Home Depot to buy a portable petrol generator. The store had only one portable generator left. That

was an EG3600CX generator, and it had been used by the store as a demonstration model. Mr Ellis was

interested in the EG3600CX generator and he asked the salesman: "Is that for sale?" The salesman responded

that "No. It is for demonstration only, but I will check with my boss". After talking to his boss, the salesperson

told Mr Ellis that "We can sell it to you for $4000. We can deliver it to your property and you can pay upon

delivery". Mr Ellis told the salesperson that "can you keep it for me for two days ? I need some more time to

think about whether it is the right generator for my property". The salesperson agreed. When Mr Ellis left the

store, another customer came and wanted to buy the EG3600CX generator for $5000. Home Depot

immediately sold the generator to that customer. On 29 October 2012, Mr Ellis called the salesman at Home

Depot and told him that "I accept your offer. Please deliver the generator to my property at 65 James Street,

Red Hill. I will pay $4000 upon delivery". After hearing that, the salesman told Mr Ellis that the generator was

already sold. Mr Ellis was very unhappy. He insisted that the store must deliver the generator to him.

On 7 November 2012, the batteries of the hybrid power system were replaced by Bailey Engineering staff

and the system started generating power. The replacement batteries were also made in China by

Amperex Technology.

As Mr Ellis was unsure about whether the hybrid power system would work properly, he still wanted to

have a petrol generator as a backup. He called Home Depot and told them that "Please deliver the generator to

me. If you don't do that, I will sue you". The salesman at Home Depot responded that "I am sorry. We have

no portable generator left to deliver to you"

The hybrid power system worked for five days but then the batteries overheated and exploded, destroying the

entire roof of Mr Ellis's house. Mr Ellis had to spend $30,000 to repair his house. During the time the system

worked, the batteries can be charged up to 210 voltage only. Being frustrated with the problems, Mr. Ellis

refused to pay Bailey Engineering the remaining of $7,900 and the $5000.