Question1

Hammer regularly took his car to be serviced at his local garage, Vanilla Ice Limited. On several occasions before handing his car over to the garage, Vanilla Ice always required Hammer to read and sign a contractual document which contained the following statement in big bold red type; "Vanilla Ice Ltd accepts no responsibility for any consequential loss or injury sustained as a result of any work carried out by the company, whether as a result of negligence or otherwise."

On the most recent visit to the garage, Vanilla Ice was very busy when Hammer arrived and because of that fact Hammer was not asked to sign the usual document. He was however, given a receipt for his car, which he accepted without reading. Vanilla Ice's usual business terms were printed on the back of the receipt in red, including the said contractual term stated above.

On his way home after servicing, Hammer was severely injured when the car suddenly burst into flames. It subsequently emerged that the fire had been as a result of the negligent work done by one of Vanilla Ice's mechanic. Vanilla Ice has accepted that its mechanic was negligent, but denies any liability for Hammer's injuries, relying on the exclusion clause above.

Advise Hammer on whether the exclusion clause was incorporated into his contract with Vanilla Ice Ltd.

Question 2

Ross Enterprises has a contract with Big Steel Company Limited in respect of Information Technology (IT) Services. The contract was signed on January 1^st 2020 and will be effected on the 1^st April 2020.

In mid-February 2020 Big Steel's sales plummeted due to the Covid 19 pandemic. In addition, an already high long term debt, and operating cost, as well as Big Steel's current negative cash flows situation placed the company in serious financial peril. Indeed if they cannot find a resolution soon to deal with their cash flow problems and debt, they will have to close operations permanently and send all employees home.

Upon hearing this pronouncement, the Trade Union representing workers at Big Steel advised management that they will take strike action. This further affected the operations of Big Steel and resulted in a loss of production, sales and the much-needed cash flows, which is critical to pay off their debt and meet current fixed operating cost.On 3^rd March 2016, Big Steel files for bankruptcy and sent all employees home.

On the 4^th March, Big Steel wrote Ross Enterprises advising of their circumstances and the virtual impossibility of implementing the sign contact for IT Services, which is scheduled to commence on 1^st April 2020.

Ross Enterprises is adamant that they have binding arrangement and wanted to proceed as per signed contract. However Big Steel has advised Ross that certain events, covid 19, global recession anda subsequent strike has culminatedfor which the company has little or no control of. Thus, it was impossible to implement the contract on the agreed start date due to these circumstances.

Advise Ross Enterprises on this matter.

Question 3

The Unemployment Program of the Government of Guava Land has several offices throughout the country, ten (10) to be specific. At these offices, all the administrative matters of the Program are administered, inclusive of payments to suppliers, payroll and Information Technology services. There are several assets and confidential data on each compound such as computer equipment, filing cabinets, personal data and several pieces of furniture.

Within recent times, there were numerous burglaries' at a number of locations, which resulted in the loss of two million dollars' worth in items. The Police are currently undertaking an investigation to catch the culprits.

The Minister, who is responsible for the Program, has mandated the Program to procure security services for one year at each location. After a highly competitive procurement process, Big Trouble Security Services secured the contract to provide security services at all the locations.

The Unemployment Program and Big Trouble Security Services met on several occasions to finalize the written contractual obligations. Finally, on March 31^st 2019, they agreed on all the terms of the contract and both parties duly signed. One of the agreed terms is that "Big Trouble Security Servicesunder no circumstances will be held liable for any unforeseen acts committed by its officers during the provision of services to the Unemployment Program"

Raymond Tin Foot, a security officer from Big Trouble Security Services, was assigned to the Harlem Office for the last six months for the 6pm to 6am shift.Raymond, who is also a resident of the Harlem area, invited several of his friends during his shift, to lime and have a cook out at nights as a means of passing the time. This involves the lighting of a fire as well as occasional drinking of alcohol on the premises.

Big Trouble Security Services - Manager and Owner - Mr. Lazy, on one of his rear occasional visits to the Harlem Site, saw what was going on at this office. He quietly told Raymond "to please keep everything under control so that no one will know".Mr. Lazy as per contractual obligations must visit the site every night to ensure that the guards are performing their functions efficiently and effectively. However, this has never been done, because Mr. Lazy treasure his sleep very much.Additionally, Mr. Lazy did not want to take any affirmative action, because he feared that Raymond might leave the job. Indeed, Big Trouble Security Services is having problems recruiting security guards in this area and as such, if Raymond left the job there will be no available guard for this location.

One night, while Raymond was cooking and consuming alcohol with his friends, forgot to extinguish the fire. They all fell asleep and subsequently the Harlem Compound of the Unemployment Program was destroyed.

The Unemployment Program intents to sue Big Trouble Security Services for breach of contract due to the negligence of their employee Mr. Raymond Tin Foot. However, Big Trouble Security Services is seeking to rely on the following agreed term of contract, which excludes them from liability, that is - "Big Trouble Security Servicesunder no circumstances will be held liable for any unforeseen acts committed by its officers during the provision of services to the Unemployment Program"

Advise the Unemployment Program, whether or not Big Trouble Security Services can rely on the above mentioned exclusion clause in the face of afundamentalbreach ofcontract due to the destruction of the compound.

Please provide references