Business Law Honors Teaching Preparation Portfolio

Business Law Honors Teaching Preparation Portfolio Student Activities Contents: Business Law Honors Teaching Preparation Portfolio I. Honors Portfolio Activity 1— Contract Law Case Study II. Honors Portfolio Activity 2 — Business Entities and Structures Presentation III. Honors Portfolio Activities 3 — Landlord vs Tenant Project Contract Law Case Studies Objective: Unit 3 Instructions: Use the information you have learned in Objective 2.01 & 2.02 as well as independent research to respond the case studies questions or task. Responses to questions should be 3-5 sentences each, while task responses require at least 1-2 paragraphs. Question and task responses will be graded using the Case Study Rubric. CONTRACT LAW - CASE STUDY 1 Bigstore Furniture Ltd (“Bigstore”) is a retailer of household furniture. The company announced its summer sale on 1 July 2009 by placing the following advertisement in several national daily newspapers in the US. BIGSTORE’S SUMMER MEGASALE! Prices cut by up to 70%! Special offer! Anyone purchasing an Italian leather three-seater sofa by cash or credit card at the reduced price of $750 will receive an Italian leather two-seater sofa priced at $500 in the sale absolutely free of charge! This offer is available at all of our stores until August 31, 2009. (The advertisement concluded by listing in small print all of the company’s stores throughout the country.) On August 5, 2009 Susan brought a copy of the advertisement with her to the local Bigstore to inspect the Italian sofas. She spoke to Ben, the Sales Manager, and told him that she had decided to purchase the sofas subject to first talking this over with her husband. Ben told Susan that the company only had a limited number of two-seaters so it was agreed that she would leave $100 in return for his agreement to hold the sofas for 48 hours. Ben told her that he would deduct the $100 from the purchase price if Susan went ahead with the purchase within that time period. On August 7, 2009 Susan called the store to purchase the sofas and spoke to Ben who was very apologetic but explained that his staff had forgotten to reserve the sofas for her. He explained that in any event the two-seaters were “subject to availability” (as stated in various notices around the store), and the company had now run out of them. Ben also said that “…obviously the two-seaters were a free gift and were subject to availability.” He pointed out that the Italian three-seater sofa was still available but the price had now gone back up to $2,500. By reference to case law and statute or your personal experiences where appropriate: Questions: 1. Explain the elements of a unilateral offer and how such an offer may be accepted. A unilateral offer is an offer in which one party promises a reward to any party that performs a required action. With this type of offer only the offeror is the only party with contractual obligation and the offer can be accepted by performing the task required. 2. Explain whether the advert amounts to an offer or an invitation to treat in respect of the three-seater sofas, the two-seater sofas An advertisement is simply defined as an invitation to create a deal. Because of this they do not apply as an offer within a contract and are not legally binding as such. In this specific instance the company is not within a binding contract to give the two-seater away for free but instead is simply inviting a customer to create a deal for it. 3. Explain whether those who purchased a three-seater sofa were contractually entitled to receive a two-seater as well, or whether Ben was correct in stating “obviously the two-seaters were a free gift…..” Because no contract was created Bigstore is not obligated to administer a free two-seater with the purchase of a three-seater. Bigstore simply offered an invitation for a customer to enter their store and make a deal with them to receive one. This offer was also based upon availability as listed throughout the store and there was no stock at the time of this conversation. 4. Explain, with justifications whether Bigstore has acted in breach of contract despite the notices which state that the two-seaters were “subject to availability"? Bigstore could not have a