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QUESTION ONE: 18 MARKS Rebecca Cassidy opened her restaurant, Cassidy's, in a spectacular location overlooking the ocean at Dover Heights in 2016. She had trained
QUESTION ONE: 18 MARKS Rebecca Cassidy opened her restaurant, Cassidy's, in a spectacular location overlooking the ocean at Dover Heights in 2016. She had trained for this opportunity all her life, completing a gruelling 4- year apprenticeship as a chef in Europe, followed by an intense work schedule as an Executive Chef in various locations around the world in order to gain additional skills and experience. Throughout her travels she has acquired, either as gifts from grateful benefactors and employers, or as personal mementos of significant stages in her development as a world-class chef, an enviable collection of rare MIYABY chef's knives. These knives are handmade Japanese knives crafted from black Damascus steel, and are currently valued at in excess of $22,000, although their value to Rebecca lies more in sentiment than their monetary worth. Cassidy's was successful almost from the day it opened in July 2016. Word of mouth soon spread and the restaurant quickly became incredibly popular because of the unique combination of exceptional food and spectacular ocean views. Cassist also gained significant peer approval, and was a regular recipient of Chef Hat and Gourmet Traveller Awards from that first year of operation. Nearly four yea rs after Cassidy's opened for business, it was unceremoniously forced to close its doors, along with those of every other business around the world. Coronavirus had arrived in Australia, and the entire country was in lockdown. Restaurants were forbidden from opening by Public Health Orders ('PHOs'), and Rebecca's dream came to a halt, at least temporarily. It was to be another two long and stressful years before the PHOs were finally lifted and the restaurant could reopen for business. There was an enormous amount of preparation that need to be completed before Rebecca could start to take bookings again. She wanted to make sure that everything was perfect for the reopening so that the reputations of both her and her restaurant were not damaged. One of the things that was absolutely essential to the operation was her chef's knives. After two years of inactivity, they need to be sharpened to a razor edge once again. Whilst she was more than capable of maintaining the edge on any knives she was using on a daily basis, she recognised that her black Damascus steel knives needed specialist ca re and attention from a professional cutler to return them to their best without damaging the multi-layered structure of the blades after not having been used for so long. Finding someone skilled in this craft in Sydney was not an easy task, however she finally located Jeff Markham, a registered knifemaker who operated Buffalo Forge 8: Knifemakers in the town of Exeter in the Southern Highlands of NSW. Rebecca arranged an appointment with Jeff and set off that day to meet with him. She inspected his credentials from the Australian Knifemakers Guild, and then explained to him what she needed, the sentimental value of the knives and the critical nature of the task. Jeff explained that he was a Master Craftsman and that his was a dying art. He assured her that he would personally complete this job from start to nish to ensure that the job was done correctly.. 700254 Enterprise Law Page 3 of 7 2022.1 End of Session exam She was told that this was an expensive process and would require a 3step Honbazuke method for each blade, spread out over at least 7 days. The cost for sharpening all ten of Rebecca's knives using this method was set at $1,000 because of the amount of labour involved. Once sharpened using this process, however, the blades would hold their edge for at least anther 10 years. As everything she had been told by Jeff concurred with her own understanding of the difficulties in maintaining these types of blades, she accepted his quotation and left her knives with Buffalo Forge, arranging to return to collect them in 10 days' time. She signed a Buffalo Forge Work Order, which was in the form of a simple contract containing the following term: Buffalo Forge 8: Knifemakers will take all necessary care and precautions in dealing with the consigned items but shall not, in any circumstances whatsoever be liable for any loss or damage to the goods howsoever caused, whether or not the loss or damage is caused by negligence or actions constituting fundamental breach of contract. When Rebecca returned to collect her knives at the appointed time, she was advised that: When Rebecca returned to collect her knives at the appointed time, she was advised that: 1. 2. 3. Jeff had assigned the sharpening of her knives to one of his apprentices. The apprentice had been unsupervised over the period of time that he completed the task. As the apprentice had not been instructed on the specialist nature of the task, he had tried to sharpen them using a standard grinding wheel. The knives were all irreparably damaged by the process that had been used. They were all blunt and much of the multi-layering of the knives had lost its structural integrity, meaning that the entire collection had been rendered both unt for use and worthless. When Rebecca confronted Jeff Markham about the unacceptable loss of her valued knives, he referred her to the Work Order she had signed, and told her that Buffalo Forge would be relying on the exclusion clause in that contract to avoid any liability for her losses. Advise Rebecca of her standing in action against Jeff Marker and Buolo Forge & Knifemakers with regard to both contract law and consumer law. Remember: Your arguments must all be fully supported with relevant statute or case law
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