BFA506

Business
Law
Unit
Coordinator: Monique Blackman
Version: 2.0

CRICOS Provider Code: 00586B

2006
University of Tasmania All rights reserved.
University of Tasmania All rights reserved.
CRICOS
Provider Code: 00586B

 2015 University of Tasmania

BFA506

What is a letter ??
A letter is a written message from one party to
another containing information. Always a good
idea as a letter guarantees the preservation of
communication between both parties.
Usual way of applying for a job for example
Proof of what was said.
Has a format and generally it is posted out so
needs to be folded into an envelope
2015 University of Tasmania

BFA506

Format of a Business letter

Australia Post have a good and
basic website that is very
helpful with the basics
http://auspost.com.au/education
/letterwriting/students/businessletters.html
2015 University of Tasmania

BFA506

 2015 University of Tasmania

BFA506

BFA506 Assessment 2
Letter of Advice
Assessment 2

Date due Perce Word

nt
Count
Letter of Advice for a 13th May 20% 2000
particular client or client 2016 at
words
5pm.
group
(+ or
(But as
minus
directed)
20%)
2015 University of Tasmania

BFA506

How to submit your letter

Actually need it printed out and
handed to me the week after the due
date at the workshop.
Needs a signed cover sheet and
rubric otherwise I will not accept it.
No late submission beyond this date
will be accepted

2015 University of Tasmania

BFA506

Your person
Some of you will know who you are
doing for all others come and see me
I have misplaced the original list so
have allocated new ones for those who
dont know and I will tell you who you
have got today !!!!!!!

2015 University of Tasmania

BFA506

Writing a Legal letter

http://unelss.org/wp-content/upload
s/2015/04/How-to-write-a-letter-ofadvice.pdf
Addressed at law students
Just a guide for you to give you
some tips, show you more
examples of formal letters
Not something you have to adhere
to strictly !

2015 University of Tasmania

BFA506

Writing a legal letter

Consider the reader and choose the format
with the reader in mind.
Choose a font size and type of the right size
for ease of reading (e.g. Times New Roman or
Calibri 11 pt) and use at least 1.5 line spacing.
Adopt a structure that enables the reader to
follow your argument with ease. Feel free to
use of headings and subheadings to give
structure to your letter.
2015 University of Tasmania

BFA506

Writing a legal letter

Formal modes of expression are to be
preferred to informal modes.
Contractions, abbreviations and slang should
not be used in legal writing.
Choose a style and tone that is appropriate for
the occasion. Think about who you are writing
to and avoid using technical terms and
lawyers jargon when writing a letter to a
client.
2015 University of Tasmania

BFA506

Clarity

In writing a legal text in plain

language:
think

about the structure,

think about the content of each
sentence and paragraph,
think about the language used,
think about the choice of words, and
design the document to help the
reader.
12

12

Example letter
Will hand this out now!
Again just for illustrations
purposes . You do not
have to do it exactly like
this and I would rather that
you it out a bit differently if
possible.

2015 University of Tasmania

BFA506

Facts of Assessment 2

Riea is a life style blogger and

journalist who wishes to install a swim
spa in her backyard.
She has done her research and finds
that Spa Town in Hobart are offering a
very good deal on the one she wants.
She emails the business and asks
them what is the lowest price they will
offer to sell her a fully installed
Hydrozone Extreme Avant Spa at
her property in New Town , Tasmania.
2015 University of Tasmania

BFA506

Facts of Assessment 2
She received the following reply to her email :We would be prepared to sell you a Hydrozone
Extreme Avant Spa which includes Hydroflow
stainless steel jets Hydroglow jet and topside
control lighting, Backlit drink holders, Perimeter
and cabinet lighting, Purezone UV water purifier
plus all installation costs to set it up at your
address given in Newtown for $45,250
2015 University of Tasmania

BFA506

Facts of Assessment 2
Riea rings Spa Town and over the phone and
informs the Manager, Trevor Nelson, that she
would like to buy the spa at this price and it is
agreed that the spa will be installed over a 3 day
period starting on the 12th February and it was to
be ready to use by the 15th February 2016. Riea
tells the Manager that this date is important as
she is holding a work function at her place on the
17th February 2016 and is hoping to impress her
guests who are also her potential employers as
they are all editors of life style magazines who
she is hoping will offer her writing deals. Riea
makes a note of this conversation in her diary.
2015 University of Tasmania

BFA506

Facts of Assessment 2
The next day Riea goes into the office of Spa Town and signs the following
document:
Spa Town Ltd agree to supply and install one Hydrozone Extreme Avant
Spa at 2 New Town Road New Town in Tasmania for the price of $45,250

.
Signature of Riea Peters
Signature of
Trevor Nelson
dated 11th January 2016
Managing
Director of Spa Town Ltd
Fred and Barney are employees of Spa town and are given the job of
installing the spa at Rieas house. On the 12th February 2016 whilst loading
the spa onto the work truck the box containing the Backlit drink holders is
dropped by Fred and the drink holders were broken so they were left
behind.
On the way to driving to Rieas house Barney was breathalysed by the
Police and recorded a blood alcohol concentration reading of 0.07. The
Police tell him a ticket will be issued and Fred drives the rest of the way.
2015 University of Tasmania

BFA506

The spa is safely delivered to Riesas house but cannot be installed as it has
been found that the area that Riea wanted it to be located in is in fact right on
top of a main sewage pipe and so the spa cannot be installed in this location.
Fred and Barney reload the spa and take it back to Spa Town and unload it
back into the show room. Fred knows he should unload it into the store room
but that is a further 14km away and he is tired so decides to leave it in the
show room instead thinking that it will be easier to collect from there in the
morning .
Riea is called by Trevor at 5pm on that day and it is agreed to place the spa
in a different location.
At 9am the next day the spa is sold by Peter to Bob. Peter is Spa Towns top
sales man and is in fact an agent of Spa Town who earns his money on
Commission being paid only if he sells products. The spa is sold to Bob a
builder who desperately is seeking this type of spa to complete a building job
he is doing for a client. He pays for the spa and immediately removes it using
his own truck at 9am that day.

2015 University of Tasmania

BFA506

Trevor did not know that Peter had sold the spa as Peter
did not consult or inform Trevor about the sale as he
assumed since the spa was back in the show room it
was to be resold however he did notice Fred and Barney
dropping it back into the show room the day before and
knew they sometimes did this rather then return products
to the store room. He was anxious however to secure
the deal as his sales of late had not been that good.
Trevor advises Fred and Barney to collect the spa from
the show room at 10am on the next day and to take it
back to Rieas house as it is to be installed at a different
part of the garden. They arrive at the show room and
learn it has been already sold. Trevor can not source
another one of these spa until the 21 February and the
spa is successfully installed in the new location on this
day by Fred and Barney.

2015 University of Tasmania

BFA506

Facts of Assessment 2
Riea is very happy with the spa but had to hold the
dinner party for her clients on the 17th January 2016
without the spa being present and feels this is the
reason she failed to obtain any writing jobs from
these 6 people as she was not able to impress them
with her rich and luxurious lifestyle. She feels she
has therefore missed out on income of around
$5000 so has offered to pay Spa town only $39800
being the lost income plus the cost of obtaining the
new back lift holders that she believed were part of
the deal and were not installed. ($45250- $5000$450). She believes that there was a definite terms
in the agreement that the spa be installed on or
before the 15th February 2016 and that it would
come with backlit drink holders.
2015 University of Tasmania

BFA506

Trevor is not happy with this and feels that Riea is

wrongly withholding his money. He feels that as the
signed paperwork made no mention of the delivery
date that there was no promise by his company to
deliver before a certain date. He also feels that
Riea has no right to seek the potential loss of the
$5000 as this is not a reasonable loss.
He also feels that Fred or Barney should be
responsible for the loss of the $450 as it was
dropped by one of them and he knows that Barney
was caught drink driving on the way to Rieas
house. Trevor also feels he can argue that the
drink holders were not included in the deal as Riea
did not sign any paper work indicating that the deal
included thee back lit drink holders .

2015 University of Tasmania

BFA506

Facts of Assessment 2
Trevor also believes that if he has to lose the
$5000 from the deal that this money should
be deducted from Peter the salesman who
wrongly sold the original spa when he had
no authority to do so from Trevor and he
should have known that Fred wrongly left it
in the show room.
Peter feels that it is Freds mistake and that if
anybody should pay the $5000 then it is
Fred who negligently and against
instructions left the spa in the show room.
2015 University of Tasmania

BFA506

People involved
You all should been given one of these
1
Riea Peters
2

Trevor Nelson

Fred Swanson

Barney Bacharat

Peter Peppers

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BFA506

Assessment task 2
Issues for your person ?
Have a look now !!
you need to consider these
They are different for each
and depend on what your
person wants advice on !

2015 University of Tasmania

BFA506

Assessment task 2 Where to start ??

The hardest part of this assessment task is finding out

and applying the relevant laws that you need to use to
answer your persons questions
You need to think about the rules/law that are relevant
for your person only
All the 5 people have different issues and hence there
will be different rules that you need to think
about/research
At the end of my talk we will be working on finding some
relevant laws for your person

BFA506

Just some and not all will be relevant to every person (could
be others)
Negligence
Remedies for contract breach including Reasonable
damages
Australian consumer law
Agency law including duties of an agent and duties owed to
the agent by the principal
Contract law
Duties owed to and by employees.
Vicarious liability
Unfair dismissal laws
ROAD SAFETY (ALCOHOL AND DRUGS) ACT 1970 (TAS)
2015 University of Tasmania

BFA506

Riea Peters
Riea wants to know :1.Can Riea legally withhold the $5000?
2.Can Riea legally withhold the $450 being
the value of the backlit drink holders and
not pay it to Trevor?
3.What were the terms of the contract? The
ones in the email and or the oral
conversation or only the ones on the signed
paper?
2015
2012 University of Tasmania

BFA506

Trevor Nelson
Trevor Nelson the Manager of Spa Town wants
your advice about:1.
Is Riea able to withhold any of the money or can
Spa Town claim the full $45250 owing under the contract?
2.
Can Trevor force Barney and Fred to refund him the
cost of the backlit drink holders?
3.
Can Trevor make Peter pay back the $5000 loss
caused when he sold the spa to Bob because he breached
his agents duties or exceeded his authority?
4.
What were the actual terms of the contract between
Spa Town and Riea ?
?
2013University
University
of Tasmania
2015
of Tasmania

BFA506/BFA141

Fred Swanson
Fred wants your advice about:1. Does Fred have to pay for
the broken backlit cup holders?
2. Does Fred have to pay the
$5000 that Peter is saying he
has to pay because he left the
spa in the showroom without
telling Peter it was sold?
2015 University of Tasmania

BFA506

Barney Bacharat

Barney wants to know:-

1 Does he have to pay for the broken

backlit cup holders?
2. What penalty is he likely to receive
because of his drink driving whilst at
work? You can assume it is his first time
ever caught drink driving.
3. Can Trevor dismiss him because of
this drink drive conviction and because
he was clearly drink driving whilst at
work?
BBarney want to know:-

2015 University of Tasmania

FA506

Peter Peppers
Peter wants wants your advice about:1.
Does Peter have to pay the $5000 that
Trevor is saying he has to pay?
2.
Peter wants to also know what duties
he may owe to Trevor/Spa Town as a
salesman.
3.
Also he has heard that he may not be
able to rely on apparent authority and wants
to know what that is and if his Commission
from the sale could be sought back from
Spa Town.
2015 University of Tasmania

BFA506

Your address for your letter

You need an address to send the letter to

So think about the address of your
person !!!!!!
Look at my letter for guidance as to where to
put the address but your person will have
his/her own address
If the facts do not make this clear then make
an address up but think about it i.e. you know
some parts of some of the addresses
2015 University of Tasmania

BFA506

Application and conclusion

You will then need to use the Rules you
have identified to apply them to your
persons set of facts and also bearing in
mind what the legal issues are , apply the
rules to the facts to come up with the
answers you need to
I am always happy to look at drafts but
these need to be given to me prior to the
5th May
2015 University of Tasmania

BFA506

Application and conclusion

This will be up to you to do !
Always the option of working
together for help with this
amongst yourselves
But the letter of advice is an
individual assessment and
should be written by you
Individually
2015 University of Tasmania

BFA506

Due date 13th May

This is a Friday
So I will give you all a extra few days for
this as I want it handed to me as a hard
copy in the workshop when we meet up
again at our workshops the following week
Hard copy to be handed in
(no extensions after this time will be given
except with medical certificates !)
2015 University of Tasmania

BFA506

Assessment task 2 - Rules

Next 30 - 45 minutes I want you to get together with into the
5 groups of people who are also doing your
person/company and come up with some of the rules /
laws that you think you will need to be using to use in the
application so that you can answer your persons legal
issues
Will be coming around and asking about what laws you
have come up with and if any one wants to volunteer to
tell us what rule/laws need to be looked at for your
person then that would be great

2015 University of Tasmania

BFA506