Posted: April 2nd, 2015

Commerical Law

Commerical Law

Order Description

OSCOLA REFERENCING

Answer Both Part one and two below

Part 1

Heather is a wine expert and earns her living from acting as a sales agent for various wine producers, travelling to a number of wine shops and specialist merchants on behalf of her principals. In January 2013 she was appointed as a commercial sales agent for Cambridge Organic, a wine producer based in Cambridge, England. No agreement was signed but it was agreed that Heather would act as their agent on an indefinite basis earning commission of 15% per sale. The territory in which Heather would sell was agreed as the whole of England and Wales, and it was further agreed that Cambridge Organic would not sell any wine themselves in this territory. In 2013 Heather spent at least 75% of her time on this agency and sold 1,500 bottles of wine at £20 on behalf of Cambridge Organic, earning £4,500 commission and in 2014 this rose to 3,750 bottles, earning Heather £11,250 in commission, because she spent almost 90% of her tie on the agency. In February 2015 Heather received a letter from Cambridge Organic terminating the agency agreement on one week’s notice, indicating that Cambridge Organic intended to open their own retail outlets to sell their wine.

Please advise Heather as to her legal rights against Cambridge Organic, with reference to the Commercial Agents Regulations 1993 and relevant caselaw.

Part 2

Cambridge Organic’s research and development team are investigating new ways to bottle wine. The team develops a new wax sealant that is applied to screw cap lids: their research shows it results in better quality wine as it helps preserve the flavour. The wine is produced by Cambridge Organic and shipped to a variety of retail stores including Stresco plc. Martha-Rose purchased two bottles of wine from Stresco plc, one sparkling white wine and one red wine. Martha-Rose is a sophisticated wine purchaser and wished to purchase them for her next wine tasting session with friends. At her wine tasting session Martha-Rose samples the red wine to find the taste is not to her satisfaction. It is later discovered that the wax had become mixed with the wine during production causing an unpleasant taste. When she opens the sparkling white wine the bottle explodes. It breaks several of her crystal wine glasses, and her plasma television screen and one of Martha’s friends gets a shard of glass lodged in to her arm causing a deep cut. Subsequently it is discovered that the wax had an unknown reaction to the carbon dioxide in the sparkling wine causing extreme pressure to build up in the bottle over a longer period of time than had been tested in the development stage by Cambridge Organic. However, a research project conducted in China and published in the international journal Science Reactions Weekly evidenced the undesirable effects certain elements can have on carbon dioxide including those used in the wax to seal the bottles produced by Cambridge Organic.

Advise Cambridge Organic on their potential liability to Martha-Rose under the Sale of Goods Act 1979 and the Consumer Protection Act 1987, Part I