Scenario 1

Lee works for a dental group (Dimples and Smiles (DS)) in Southport, QLD, as a dental nurse. In early March this year, one of the new CT scan imaging machines at the dentistry became faulty and failed to produce clear images. DS purchased the machine from Wisdom Teeth Express (WTE), an online dental supplies retailer in Brisbane.Lee calls WTE to ask for a technician to visit the clinic as soon as possible to assess what is wrong with the machine. Three days later, a person by the name of Andrew visits the clinic and says that he was sent from WTE to look at the faulty machine. Andrew produces a business card that has his name and the words 'Med Machine Repairs' on the front of the card. After checking the machine, Andrew advises Lee that he can repair the machine for $1,000, but he will need to take it back to his repair shop, where he has the necessary tools and parts. Lee's boss is very keen to have the machine repaired, so she agrees, and gives Andrew a company cheque for $1,000. The next day Lee calls the number provided on Andrew's card, but when she asks for Andrew, the person responds that they have never heard of anyone called Andrew and have not seen the machine. It turns out that the person claiming to be Andrew was actually a rogue, pretending to work for WTE. Lee is now very worried, as the machine is worth over $30,000. She calls the police, and after three days they track down the rogue and arrest him. Unfortunately, the rogue had sold the machine to a second-hand medical supplies warehouse (2MSW), who were not aware of the origins of the machine, nor that the seller was a rogue. Lee is sure that 2MSW must return the machine to DS because the rogue had tricked her but 2MSW disagree.

Advise Lee.

Please cite case law in your advice. Please only consider contract principles from the prescribed Topics.

Use IRAC