Legal Analysis of Commercial Obligations and Remedies under Australian Business Law MLC707 Assesssment

MLC707 (Business Law)

Trimester 1, 2025

Research Assignment (Individual Assignment)

DUE DATE AND TIME: Monday 28 April 2025 by 8pm, AEST (Melbourne Time)

PERCENTAGE OF FINAL GRADE: 30%

ASSIGNMENT QUESTION/S: The question is set out below.

Description

This assessment provides you with an opportunity to formalise a written answer to legal fact-based problems, and to undertake legal research relevant to business and commerce.

This assessment is an important step in acquiring the skill of legal argumentation, which is set as a discipline-specific skill with which to enhance your critical faculties and writing abilities, as well as provide a deeper understanding of the workings of business law. It is important that your discussion focuses on analysing the facts and applying the law to those facts.

Marks will be awarded for your identification of the issues and the material facts that are relevant to those issues; your identification of the law that applies to those facts and issues; and most importantly, the application and analysis of the law as it applies to those facts and issues. Generalised statements of legal principles that is, those that are not sufficiently relevant to the facts will attract only limited marks. Marks are also awarded for research, both as evidenced by your Research Plan document and your Research Log document, and, for how your research informs your analysis.

It is also expected that you observe tertiary level academic writing standards structure your answers properly under appropriate headings and present in proper paragraphs, with correct grammar, punctuation and spelling.

Please ensure that you read all of the instructions contained in this document

Specific Requirements

1. Research: This is a research assignment (beyond the textbook), so you are strongly advised to complete the Legal Research for Commerce Units Module before commencing work on the assignment. This module can be found on the CloudDeakin unit site under Content / Table of Contents / Legal research for Commerce Units Module.
   
   Note! Your prescribed textbook is not acceptable as a research source and using it will result in very poor marks. You must identify additional research sources through the Deakin Library to score well on the research criteria. The Law Librarians have provided a video to show Commerce students how to do research on legal issues. You will need to read a range of sources in order to understand the legal rules in sufficient detail to score well on the legal rules and application.
   
   Assignments that received poor marks in the past typically included the following common mistakes:
   - lack of any suitable resources, such as other textbooks, to explain general legal principles:
   - over-reliance on web-based materials that lacked detail and context, and reliability (such as blog-sites):
   - use of incorrect web-based materials (such as American sources); and
   - reference to only a few cases.
   Please refer to the two Higher Distinction Papers uploaded on Cloud Deakin to see what the expectations are for a top-quality answer, although note those papers had a higher word limit.

1. Individual Assignment: It is an individual assignment, meaning that each student must submit his/her own answers. You can, of course, form discussion or study groups and discuss the assignment, but you need to undertake your own research and write your own answers. You should familiarise yourself properly about all the rules applying to plagiarism and collusion.

1. Default Jurisdiction to be Assumed: Victoria

An assignment, exam or seminar question may describe a fact scenario set in another state of Australia. If so, and if state legislation is applicable, the relevant rules of that particular state should be discussed.

However, if an interstate location is not indicated (and this will usually be the case), then students are directed to assume that the fact scenarios take place in the state of Victoria. This means that if state legislation is applicable to the fact scenario, only Victorian legislation should be discussed.

Cases from other jurisdictions within Australia can always be discussed if they have persuasive precedent applicability.

Of course, Commonwealth Legislation (and associated cases) applies equally across Australia. When an area of law is regulated by way of Commonwealth Legislation only, for instance the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth), there is no need to consider any state legislation.

4. Research and referencing: There are three documents you must submit:
   (i) a Research Plan, and
   (ii) a Research Log, and
   (iii) a Legal Advice.
   
   How to prepare your Research Plan is explained in the training module, Legal Research for Commerce Students (in the Content folder). The Research Log records the research sources that you found and whether you intend to use that source in your Legal Advice. The template Research Plan and Research Log are provided in the Assignment folder.
   
   There is no specific minimum or maximum number of resources that you must include. You must use an adequate number of relevant legal resources to explain the legal principles and support your application of the legal principles to the facts. Our suggestion is that you need at least two recent textbooks that cover the legal issues and at least five cases that apply the law.
   
   You must correctly reference all resources following the Australian Guide to Legal Citation (AGLC) https://law.unimelb.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/3181325/AGLC4-with-Bookmarks-1.pdf.
   
   As this is a law unit, the AGLC is the most appropriate way of referencing research assignments in law and you will not be allowed to use the Deakin Harvard Referencing Guide (Harvard) for purposes of this assignment. Note two things in particular:

• Footnotes are used (the words in the footnotes are not counted as part of the total words); and

• A Bibliography (see paragraph 1.13, page 35 of the AGLC) is required (the words in the Bibliography are not counted as part of the total words required for this assignment). Use at least three divisions for your Bibliography: Articles/Books/Reports (arranged alphabetically and together); B. Cases (alphabetically); and C. Legislation (alphabetically, but no need for distinctions between Federal and State Legislation). Any other sources could be listed alphabetically under D. Other.

5. Word count: The maximum word length for your assignment is 1,200 words (including headings). Assignments must not exceed the upper limit of 1,200 words (including headings). Submissions exceeding 1,200 words will be penalised by 2% (0.6 marks out of 30 marks) for every 20 words over 1,200 words.

5. Format

• You do not need to provide a cover sheet.

• Your document MUST be in Microsoft Word (or rich text) format - .doc, .docx or .rtf. If you submit in any other format your assignment will not be marked.

• Text, headings and Bibliography: Use font size 12 point and line spacing of 1.5 (one and a half).

• For footnotes: Use font size 10 point and line spacing of 1 (single).

• Use Calibri or Times New Roman font.

• Use margin 2.54 cm on all sides.

• You must provide a total word count (inclusive of headings, body text and footnote) at the beginning of your assignment.

• All pages of the assignment must be numbered.

• Your Name and Student ID must appear on the title page;

• Only your student ID number may be included in the header or footer of each page.

• You must ensure that your writing, punctuation, spelling and grammar are of a satisfactory standard.

Learning Outcome Details for this Assessment

This assignment allows you to demonstrate achievement towards the unit learning outcomes. The ULOs are aligned with specific graduate learning outcomes that is, the skills and knowledge that graduates are expected to have upon completion of their studies and this assessment task is an important tool in determining achievement of those outcomes.

If you do not demonstrate achievement of the unit learning outcomes, you will not be successful in this unit.

It is good practice to familiarise yourself with the ULOs and GLOs, as they provide guidance on the knowledge, understanding and skills you are expected to demonstrate upon completion of the unit. In this way they can be used to guide your study.

Submission Instructions

The due date and time for this assessment is Monday 28 April 2025 by 8pm, AEST (Melbourne Time). You are to submit your assignment and your Research Plan and your Research Log in the Assignment Dropbox in the MLC707 CloudDeakin Unit Site on or before the due date.

Your assignment document must be submitted in Microsoft Word (or rich text) format - .doc, .docx or .rtf. Do not submit your assignment document in PDF format, Apple Pages format, or in any other format. Submissions not in Microsoft Word (or rich text) format will not be marked and will receive a mark of zero.

It is your responsibility to ensure that the file you submit can be downloaded by the marker. Files that cannot be opened will be treated as non-submissions and the usual late penalties will apply. Additionally, please take care to ensure that you have submitted the right version of the file (i.e., your final version, and not a draft version) and that you have submitted the assessment for this unit (and have not mistakenly submitted an assessment that was written for another unit). The last file submitted before the due date and time is the file that will be assessed.

Submitting a hard copy of this assignment is not allowed!

You must keep a backup copy of every assignment you submit until the marked assignment has been returned to you. In the unlikely event that something goes wrong electronically with the uploading of your assignment, or the document is corrupted, you will need to submit your backup copy.

Any work you submit may be checked by electronic or other means for the purposes of detecting collusion and/or plagiarism. If you are caught plagiarising or colluding, you will receive 0% for your assignment and the matter must then be reported the Faculty Academic Progress and Disciplinary Committee.

When you submit an assignment through your CloudDeakin unit site, you will receive an email to your Deakin email address confirming that it has been submitted. You should check that you can see your assignment in the Submissions view of the Assignment Dropbox folder after upload, and check for, and keep, the email receipt for the submission.

Only if you are encountering last minute technical problems and are unable to submit your assignment on CloudDeakin (in such cases, urgently seek the assistance of IT support), please email your assignment as an Attachment to the Unit Chair, Prof. Jean du Plessis (jean.duplessis@deakin.edu.au) to demonstrate that the assignment would have been on time if it was not for technical problems. In the email, state your Name and Student ID. Even if you experienced difficulties uploading the assignment before the due date you will still be required to submit the assignment on CloudDeakin once all technical issue have been resolved. The reason for this is that all assessment of all Assignments is only done on CloudDeakin we do not assess work submitted as email attachments or hard copies.

If you have already submitted your assignment on CloudDeakin, but wish to submit an updated submission, that is acceptable so long as the most recent copy is submitted before the submission deadline. The latest submission will be marked.

Late submissions and penalties

All assignment must be submitted on the date and at the time stated in the Unit Guide and in this document.

Late submissions will be penalised in accordance with the Late Submission Policy of the Faculty of Business and Law.

Marking Criteria and Feedback

Marking Criteria

The Research Assignment is worth 30% of your final grade for this unit. It is always a useful exercise to familiarise yourself with the criteria before completing any assessment task. Criteria act as a boundary around the task and help identify what assessors are specifically looking for in your submission. The criteria are drawn from the units learning outcomes, ensuring they align with appropriate graduate attributes.

The assessment measures for the assignment will be on:

• Critical thinking and thorough analysis of the relevant laws, and this includes identification of legal issues and principles both from common law and from legislative provisions;

• Adequate legal research;

• Application of legal research to the facts in the question;

• Clarity in your communication, in the structure and in presentation;

• Proper referencing and citations; and

• Reasoned conclusion based on legal research and application to facts in question.

Note: It is important to spend some time thinking how the assignment is to be structured and to give yourself some time to edit and proofread the work. A piece of writing, almost always, goes through a few drafts, even if you are an experienced researcher or writer.

Feedback

Your marked assessment will be returned to you 15 working days after you submitted your assignment. Feedback will be provided in the Feedback Box in the Assignment Submission Folder.

Your marked assessment may contain a range of positive and negative feedback. The purpose of this feedback is to help you to learn from your submission.

Extensions

Students who require a time extension must note the following:

1. Read the Facultys Extension Guidelines: https://d2l.deakin.edu.au/d2l/le/content/1042228/viewContent/5869275/View. This can also be found in the Assessment Resources folder.

1. Complete all sections of the Assessment Extension Application Form (the form) and state on the form if your application relates to a Learning Access Plan: https://d2l.deakin.edu.au/d2l/le/content/1042228/viewContent/5869277/View.

You can also locate this in the Assessment Resources folder.

3. Your request must be supported with verifiable documentation (for example, medical certificate). Your application will usually be denied if you do not provide adequate supporting documentation at the time of requesting the extension.

3. If an extension is granted, the period of the extension will be commensurate to the circumstances which have affected the completion of your assignment. For example, if you were affected by a medical condition for three days, you would expect that the extension granted would be for three days.

3. Extension requests after the due date must be made to the Faculty through Student Connect Special Consideration.

Late Submission

The following marking penalties will apply if you submit an assessment task after the due date without an approved extension: 5% will be deducted from available marks for each day up to five days, and work that is submitted more than five days after the due date will not be marked and will receive 0% for the task.

'Day' means working day for paper submissions and calendar day for electronic submissions. The Unit Chair may refuse to accept a late submission where it is unreasonable or impracticable to assess the task after the due date.

Support

The Division of Student Life (see link below) provides all students with editing assistance. Students who wish to take advantage of this service must be organised and plan ahead and contact the Division of Student Life in order to schedule a booking, well in advance of the due date of this assignment. https://www.deakin.edu.au/students/studying/study-support

Referencing and Plagiarism

Any material used in this assignment that is not your original work must be acknowledged as such and appropriately referenced. You can find information about plagiarism and other study support resources at the following website: https://www.deakin.edu.au/students/studying/academic-integrity

Academic Misconduct

For information about academic misconduct, special consideration, extensions, and assessment feedback, please refer to the document Your rights and responsibilities as a student in this Unit under Contents Unit Guide & Information in the CloudDeakin unit site: https://d2l.deakin.edu.au/d2l/le/content/1042228/viewContent/5830522/View

Research Assignment Question

Perdue Developments is a builder designer with a reputation for very high-quality work on designer projects. Perdue Developments finds a site in the exclusive Melbourne suburb of Brighton. They design 10 up-market townhouses to be built on the site and then search for a builder to build the townhouses to an extremely high standard. They enter into discussions with Built Excellence to undertake the building of the 10 up-market townhouses they designed.

Perdue Developments and Built Excellence meet several times to discuss the details of the project during February and March 2024. During those meetings, Perdue Developments shows Built Excellence the plans for the townhouses, and drawings detailing the colour schemes and materials to be used in the construction. Built Excellence makes some suggestions to Perdue Developments about the plans and colour schemes so as to reduce construction costs and improve the look of the townhouses. This included some hand-made and hand-painted tiles for the faade of each townhouse.

On 1 April 2024, Built Excellence says to Perdue Developments that We could build the 10 townhouses to your current plans and designs for approximately $1m per townhouse. You said you want to make the townhouses certified energy efficient, and that would add to the cost. However, that is a ballpark figure. If you want the building work completed this year you would need to upload the final plans and complete our contract on our online client portal and agree to our terms and conditions. You can agree by ticking all the boxes. You must also pay a 10?posit to our bank.

On 10 April 2024 Perdue Developments logs on to the Built Excellence online client portal and uploads the plans. The plans are marked DRAFT ONLY. Perdue Developments also uploads a document entitled Request review and confirm which referred to discussions on the 1st of April 2024 and said, Please confirm the terms of our discussions on 1 April. Perdue Developments did not pay any money to Built Excellence at that time.

On the 17th of April 2024, Perdue Developments uploaded another document to the Built Excellence online client portal entitled Change of colour scheme and materials. This document stated that Perdue Developments wished to change the color scheme and some of the materials. They requested that Built Excellence advise of any cost implications.

On the 10th of May 2024, Perdue Developments made a payment of $10,000 to Built Excellence and uploaded a document entitled Good faith payment which stated Perdue Developments good intentions, and commitment to the project.

On the 20th of May 2024, Perdue Developments is approached by Classic Construction, who have been operating in Queensland and NSW for several decades and are keen to expand into Victoria.

In order to establish itself in the Victorian market, Classic Construction offers Perdue Developments a very attractive price of $750,000 per townhouse for the 10 townhouse project. Perdue Developments and Classic Constructions sign a contract on 30 May 2024 and Classic Constructions commence work on site on 31 May 2024.

On 4 June 2024, the team from Built Excellence arrives at the construction site. They are very upset to see the Classic Construction crew working on the foundations for the 10 townhouses. The site manager form Perdue Developments tells the Built Excellence crew to leave the site immediately.

Built Excellence then sends an email to Perdue Developments saying We have a contract, and you are in breach of contract. We intend to sue you and claim our full fees as damages. See you in court!.

Q1 Advise Built Excellence whether they are correct to say they have formed a contract with Perdue Developments.

Built Excellence started preparing for the Perdue Developments work in March 2024. Preparation included the decorative tiles for the faade of each townhouse. Built Excellence had spoken to Artistic Tiles, who specializes in handcrafted artisan tiles to order. Built Excellence was aware that it would take at least six months to make and then hand-paint the tiles for the Perdue Developments townhouses. In order to ensure that the tiles were ready when they were needed, Built Excellence had emailed Artistic Tiles saying Are you sure you will be able to supply enough tiles for the townhouses in time? Once we get the go ahead and finalise the colour and shape of the tiles, we will need supply very quickly. Without any delays.

Artistic Tiles was keen to keep Built Excellence happy in order to get their business in future. Artistic Tiles estimated that the 10 townhouses would use around 200,000 tiles, and given the tight schedule, production needed to start straight away. Artistic Tiles produced the 200,000 tiles and was ready to hand paint them. The manager of Artistic Tiles contacts Built Excellence to check what colour the tiles should be painted. Built Excellence replies saying Nah mate, that jobs off. We got undercut by a Sydney company. Artistic Tiles estimate they have spent approximately $100,000 on producing the tiles so far and are very angry. When Artistic Tiles tell Built Excellence that it expects to be paid at least those costs, Built Excellence says that it does not have to pay a cent because there is no contract.

Q2 Advise Artistic Tiles whether it would succeed in an action for promissory estoppel.