You are the acting catering manager of BigBiz$$s food services division. You have entered into a catering service agreement with Slick Seminars, Inc. to supply banquet and setup services in an events room on your premises in Louisville, Kentucky. The event was a presentation to potential purchasers of a personal coaching program. This is the first event for which you are responsible, so you want everything to be perfect $($which it never is$).$ BigBiz supplies the banquet room, tables, chairs, decorations, setup and cleanup, servers and security. The food is served at table by your wait staff. The services arrangement was negotiated and reduced to writing on BigBiz$$s standard form contract. The contract was delivered to the client$$s authorized representative for review and signing by the client$$s president. As it turns out, a signed contract was not returned. However, The client sent a check for $$24,000,$ a deposit of half of the total charges. The balance of $$24,000$ was to be paid at the end of the event. You charged $$40$ per attendee with a guarantee of $120$ meals to be served. The charge included the rent of the hall, set up$,$ clean up$,$ the food, the beverages, and all personal services. You continued to coordinate the client$$s requirements in weeks leading up to the event. On the scheduled date of the event, your team had furnished the room with chairs and tables with tablecloths and utensil setups. The space was decorated to the client$$s specifications with a podium and small sound stage at the front of the room.

The presentation was scheduled to begin at $4$:$30$ p$.$m$.$ By $2$:$30,$ a partial service and security staff was on premises. Coffee, tea, soft drink and bottled water and snack service were set up$.$ There was no kitchen on premises so hot and cold food items prepared in BigBiz$$s commissary in Sellersburg, Indiana, were on delivery trucks scheduled to arrive and be served according to the client$$s schedule. A team of the client$$s employees, including the company president, showed up at $3$:$00$ p$.$m$.$ They complimented you on the room and preparations and began greeting attendees as they arrived between $3$:$30$ and $4$:$00$ p$.$m$.$ The presentation began at $4$:$30.$ A full course hot dinner was scheduled to be served at $6$:$00$ p$.$m$.$ No alcohol would be served. According to Slick$$s promotional material, the meal was an inducement to attend. Most of the approximately $100$ attendees appeared to be financially well off middle$-$aged to elderly couples. They had paid $$50$ apiece to attend.

By $5$:$30,$ the guests began to show signs of impatience and several looked around for indications of the meal to be served. Your trucks should have arrived by now and you started to panic. You had not heard from the delivery crew or the commissary. Your cell phone rang. A wreck on I$-65$ had stopped all southbound traffic and your vehicles were nowhere near an exit. They never arrive. You tell this to the client$$s president who reluctantly announces to the guests they will not be getting a meal. Predictably, they are unhappy, demand a refund, and walk out.

Slick Seminars sues BigBiz for breach of contract. They want their deposit returned plus $$5000$ for the refunds to the attendees. They had estimated they would sign up $25$ attendees for a course in professional coaching, at $$500$ per course, plus $$10,000$ in gross sales of books and DVDs at the seminar. Also, they discover that you do not have a food service permit in Kentucky. Kentucky views a catering business as a food service establishment. This requires you to adhere to the state$$s food permit and food safety guidelines. They claim the absence of a permit renders your contract void and unenforceable. However, you do have a food service permit in Indiana, where the food was prepared.Assignment $5\mathrm{.}1-$ There is a Lot Going on and You Are in the Middle

Read this situation, which requires you to make decisions and take action, applying principles of contract law covered in this week$$s readings, the lecture and the videos. Discuss your rights and liabilities as the Caterer and the rights and obligations of the Client under the Full Service Catering Contract. Your paper should be double$-$spaced, be in Times New Roman $12-$point font, and include APA$-$formatted citations and references. This service contract contains the provisions necessary for this problem.

Make sure you address the following:

What are your defenses?

Are you entitled to keep all or part of the deposit? Is it nonrefundable or can you claim an amount equal to the value of the non$-$food services?

Is this contract governed by the Uniform Commercial Code or the common law?

Which is predominant, food or service? Which interpretation favors you?

Which facts support common law and which lead you to the Uniform Commercial Code UCC?

Is there an exception that would make an oral contract enforceable?

Would the Force Majeure clause excuse your performance?

What is your defense to the claim of no license in Kentucky?

What damages could Slick Seminars