Jackson Hartley (B. Eng) is the CEO of Engineering ABS (Pty) Ltd, the company

specializes in making mining equipment. In this position he manages the

company in general and often finds himself at meetings of the board of

directors, despite not officially being a called director. Jackson is an expert in

Japanese mining equipment given that he spent 3 years working in Japan for

the Japanese siter company of Engineering ABS (Pty) Ltd. Naturally, when

the company purchased a new mining drill from a Japanese company

(Mines R US), they asked Jackson to be on site for delivery to inspect the drill,

given his knowledge of Japanese mining equipment.

Jackson is an incredibly busy man, he decides that one of his staff members,

Marco (B. Eng) could go and inspect the equipment. Marco inspects the

equipment and decides it is suitable, and signs the delivery forms. 3 weeks

later the drill breaks completely. Engineering ABS (Pty) Ltd is furious with

Jackson as the drill cost R78 000 000.00 and now that it had been inspected,

they cannot obtain a refund for latent defects. They want to hold Jackson

liable as they feel he didn't act with the care and skill that should be

expected of him, discuss whether Jackson could escape liability. Refer to

both common law and statute.