Questions No 1

Martina is a champion tennis player

and is to compete in the forthcoming Wembley championship. she decides to

update all her tennis equipment including her racquets. She purchases four new

tennis racquets without strings and takes the racquets to an expert in

Melbourne to have them strung with the lightest strings and the correct

tension.

When she enters the experts' shop,

she does not notice a sign which is placed on the wall behind the counter which

says, in medium-sized print:

"Whilst all possible care is

taken with stringing and restringing work entrusted to us we cannon t accept

responsibility for any defective work or defective products used by us, and we

will not be liable for any loss or losses to customers, even if demonstrably

caused by negligent workmanship on our part".

Martina could not have read the

notice, even if she had seen it, since she wears contact lenses which she did

not have with her at the time.

She left her racquet for

restraining and was given a docket she placed in her purse, assuming that it

identified her racquets so that she could collect the right racquets on her

return. The same words which appeared on the notice behind the counter were

also printed on the docket in very fine, but legible print on the bottom of the

docket.

A few days later, Martina collected

her racquets which appeared to be correctly strung, paid the costs of

restraining, packed the racquets with her other gear and left for the Wembley

championship.

Whilst competing in the first round

of competition, the strings in Martina's racquet broke. she selected two

replacement racquets in turn and the strings also broke. She was eliminated

from the first round of the championships. Valuable endorsements totalling

$20,000 which Martina would have received if she had played in the finals were

thus lost and all observers agreed that Martina's poor performance was directly

attributable to her faulty racquets which had been strung with defective

material. Subsequent testing of the strings showed that they were suitable for

squash racquets, but not for tennis racquets.

Required:

Martina seeks your advice only on

the exclusion clause displayed on the premises and printed on the docket and

whether it can defeat any common law damage claim she may against the racquet

stringer.

Note: You are required to use the 4

step process in answering this question.

Book:

Business and corporations law, 4th

Edition/ Jeffrey F. Fitzpatrick, Christopher F. Symes, Angelo

Veljanovski, David Parker.

(ISBN/ISSN: 9780409351101)

4 Steps Process :

1. Identify the area of Law:

As

you are reading the question, examine what law or legal principles will assist

you in resolving the problem/s in the question.

This

helps you to determine the relevant legal principles you will be required to

discuss in step 2.

2. Discuss the relevant legal

principles:

The legal principles you identified

in step 1 may require:

Definition

of terms

General

rules and exceptions and defences

Case

authority facts,

court decision

Proper

spelling of case name

Case

year is not necessary

Section/s

of an Act of Parliament, eg Corporations Act

3. Apply the relevant law to the

given facts:

State

how the law is likely to apply to the facts in the question.

State

the likely outcomes. There could be more than one possible outcome.

Under

Application, you are trying to resolve the problem.

4. Conclusion:

State

the likely and logical conclusion.

Re-check:

what the question asks you and that you have answered that question.